The Phoenix Rising
by NeoMulder
Summary: What happens when the Doctor meets a girl who seems to understand him better than anyone else? And how will he react when she seems to be a magnet for trouble? Find out here.
1. Once

Phoenix had just stepped out of the lift when a loud crash sounded, startling her. Peering down the hall, she saw that the doors to one of the storage rooms were wide open and the lights were on. That wasn't right, she thought, walking over and peeking into the room.

She rolled her eyes when she spotted a blonde girl wandering around the room. "Rose, would you stop making so much racket? You startled me."

"It wasn't me." The blonde protested, turning to look at her with a glare. "Have you seen Wilson?"

Phoenix forced herself not to show how much Rose's reaction hurt. The blonde's dislike towards her didn't make any sense. They'd practically grown up together and had been best friends in elementary and middle school, but they'd grown apart when they reached their high school years. She'd never gotten an explanation, just anger, but she guessed that the year of difference where she'd still been in middle school while Rose was in her freshmen year hadn't helped any. There was more to it than that, but everytime she brought it up with the girl, she was shut down. Eventually, she'd stopped asking and just accepted it for what it was. They weren't friends anymore.

She shook her head and brushed her brunette hair out of her eyes. "No. Why?"

"I have to bring him the lottery money and the shop's closing." She responded, her tone making it obvious how annoyed she was with the brunette. "So, if you don't mind, I'm just gonna-"

The blonde broke off as the door slammed shut behind them, causing Phoenix to whirl around. What was going on? She followed Rose over to the door and watched as she tried to pull it open. No matter how much she pulled the door wouldn't budge. "You're kidding me."

"Hey! There's still someone in here!" Phoenix yelled, her voice echoing through the room and sending an eerie feeling through her. It was already creepy enough down here, she though as they waited for someone to come let them out, but no one did. Rose turned and looked like she was about to say something when another clatter echoed through the room.

They both glanced at each other before heading further into the room. Phoenix knew that there was another exit, they just needed to get there, but it appeared that there was someone between them and the exit. It made her insides knot up just thinking about it.

"Is that someone mucking about?" Rose called, walking past Phoenix and moving further down the hall. "Who is it?"

"Rose, maybe we should leave it be." Phoenix whispered softly, glancing around and reaching behind herself to tug on her hair. The blonde continued forward, completely ignoring her and Phoenix sighed before hurrying over to her. "Rose-"

"Look, if you're scared why don't you go cry home to mummy!" Rose snapped, whirling on the girl with irritation and Phoenix found that she couldn't stop herself from physically flinching back at Rose's words. How could she say that with what had happened to her mother? Then again, maybe she didn't know. They hadn't spoken for years now, outside of work and the blonde never spoke to her unless it was necessary. "What? Did I upset you? You gonna cry now?"

Phoenix turned away from the blonde, quickly wiping the tears from her eyes and trying to shove the hurt down. Something was going on and she needed to stay focused, otherwise she might meet the same fate as her mother. She was hoping that it was just a prank and not someone who would hurt them. A slow creaking started a few feet in front of her and she slowly looked up, her eyes widening when the plastic dummy started towards her. How...? No, it couldn't be.

Both girls began to stagger back as the dummy advanced on them, creaking the whole while.

"Yeah, you got me. Very funny." Rose said, her voice wavering as she spoke. "Derek, is this you?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Phoenix spotted a flash of movement and she turned to see another dummy coming towards them. Everywhere she turned there was another animating and coming towards them.

Phoenix turned, frantically searching for somewhere without mannequins, now properly frightened. "Look, whoever's doing this, it isn't funny!"

One thing Phoenix had always liked about Rose, she wouldn't leave someone to die no matter how much she might dislike them. So it didn't completely surprise her when the blonde pulled her back away from the mannequins, pushing her behind herself.

Phoenix yelped in surprise as her foot caught on a fallen clothes rack and she suddenly found herself falling backwards. Her head smacked into the concrete floor, hard and she gasped at the pain while trying to reorient herself. She didn't get much of a chance as she was suddenly being hauled off of the ground. Fearing that it was one of the dummies, she started struggling, twisting and turning in the grasp.

"Oi, it's just me!" Rose's voice made her instantly freeze and look at the girl. "We have to get out of here!"

Phoenix nodded and followed the blonde's lead as they started moving away from the dummies again. "You helped me."

Rose glanced at the brunette with surprise. She was angry with the girl, yes, but it didn't mean she would let her die. They'd been friends and no matter what had happened between them, she knew that a part of her would always care about the girl. Did she really think otherwise?

Soon, Phoenix and Rose were pushed up against a door that wouldn't open and the wall next to it. Even though she knew it probably wouldn't work, Phoenix yanked at the door before giving up and pounding on it, hoping that someone might hear as the mannequins closed in on them. No one came and Phoenix's hope of rescue faded as she turned to look at the dummies.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she pressed herself back against the door and turned her head into Rose's shoulder. To say she was surprised when the blonde didn't shove her away, but instead grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly would be an understatement. Waiting for the cold touch of plastic, Phoenix squeezed Rose's hand back, ignoring the strange buzzing noise she was hearing.

A gasp escaped her lips as the cool metal of the door against her back disappeared and she found herself falling backwards for the second time that night, her eyes shooting open and Rose's hand falling from her own. She was immediately dizzy and expecting to hit the floor again, so she screwed her eyes shut again. She waited for impact but only seconds after her support had been removed, she found herself colliding with something much softer than the concrete had been. She would know. It definitely wasn't one of the dummies, seeing as it was soft and warm, so she carefully cracked her eyes open.

Once she had seen what had ahold of her, her eyes shot open and she sighed with relief. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and he was wearing a loose leather jacket over a dark maroon jumper. He had short hair, a pointed nose, and large ears that somehow complimented his appearance. The most startling thing about him though were his eyes. They were an intense, clear, blue and though one might expect them to be as cold as their color would suggest, his were filled with warmth and kindness. In fact his entire face should give one a certain impression but instead gave the exact opposite impression.

He straightened her by pulling her out into the hall before grabbing her hand, his warm fingers wrapping around her own and squeezing gently. Phoenix figured they would be moving in a moment and she called out to her former friend.

"Rose!" She held her hand out, not looking away from the man's smiling eyes. Relief filled her when the blond accepted her hand.

"Run!"

Phoenix was right as she was suddenly being pulled down the hallway and away from the plastic dummies with Rose attached to her hand. The man was keeping a firm grip on her hand so he was easily able to tell when she lost she stumbled. Both him and Rose helped to keep her more or less moving until she regained her footing. The three ran straight down the hallway towards another lift at the end of the corridor, the mannequins still after them and moving faster than Phoenix would have thought possible for something made of plastic.

The lift doors opened in a rush and Phoenix caught a glimpse of the man's blue eyes as he pushed the two girls into the car. Once they were all in, he repeatedly pressed the button to close the doors, but the mannequins were getting closer. The doors started to close and it looked like they were home free when a plastic arm suddenly shot through the gap in the closing doors, preventing the car from going up to the desired floor. The man struggled with it as he opened and closed it's fingers, grasping around for them. Adrenaline and fear were the only things keeping Phoenix on her feet as the struggle continued, until finally after some forceful tugs the arm disconnected from the body with a pop, allowing the doors to close and the lift to ascend upwards.

Phoenix let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding before turning to Rose. "You okay?"

Rose ignored her as she stared at the man with horror. "You pulled his arm off."

"Yep." The man said in a Northern accent, turning and tossing the arm at Phoenix. She caught it and looked up as the man spoke again. "Plastic."

"Very clever. Nice trick." Rose said, obviously not happy as she glanced at the arm and the brunette holding it. "Who were they then, students? Is this a student thing or what?"

"Why would they be students?" The Doctor wondered, glancing between Phoenix and Rose. Phoenix herself was wondering about Rose's thought processes.

"I don't know." Rose responded, her tone conveying that she didn't think she should have to explain herself. As if it were obvious.

"Well, you said it. Why students?" He repeated, turning away from her. Why was he so intent on her answer? Why was he helping them at all? Not that she wasn't grateful to him for helping, if he hadn't Rose and her would most certainly be dead, but most people didn't do anything without a motive.

"Cos to get that many people dressed up and being silly, they got to be students." Rose reasoned, her tone matter of fact.

"That makes sense. Well done." The man complimented, glancing back at her and beaming.

"Thanks." Rose said, her tone unsure as she stared at the man.

"How does that make sense?" Phoenix wondered, staring at the man with raised eyebrows. "What kind of school would have students dress up as mannequins and try to prank people by breaking the law and trespassing in a shop after closing?" Rose looked like she was about to protest so Phoenix quickly cut her off. "And if you're going to go the route that some students just got together, do you know how hard it is to get people together like that? Especially students? Yes, it's possible but not very to mention, their faces were plastic as well and it wasn't clear plastic so there's no way they could see through it." She paused, brushing her hair behind her ear as she looked between Rose and the man who were both listening to what she was saying. The man looked curious while Rose looked irritated, but that seemed to be the norm for Rose when it came to Phoenix so she just ignored it and continued explaining. "They didn't have eyeholes and even if they had tiny ones that we couldn't see, they still wouldn't be able to see through it well enough to come after us through a basement with a bunch of random stuff all over the place."

"That makes even more sense." The man said, looking to her with an expression that could be impressed. "Fantastic." He paused, glancing at Rose. "They're not students."

"Whoever they are, when Wilson finds them, he's going to call the police." Rose said, glancing at Phoenix with a glare as the lift's gears started to grind, indicating that they were stopping.

"Who's Wilson?" The man wondered, looking to Rose with a curious and confused expression.

"Chief electrician." Rose responded simply as the doors started to open.

"Wilson's dead." The man said, his tone darker as he walked out of the lift.

Phoenix's lips parted with a soft gasp and she quickly followed Rose out of the lift. The blonde was almost yelling at the man at this point. "That's just not funny. That's sick!"

"Mind your eyes." The man warned, the doors to the shaft closing as he pulled a slender object from his coat pocket and pointed it at the lift's controls. The object in his hand buzzed and the panel sparked, causing Phoenix to jump a bit while Rose flinched.

"Do you really think they'd follow us up here?" Phoenix wondered, staring curiously at the man as he looked around.

"Yes. Why wouldn't they?" The Doctor asked her, focusing on her and seeming to actually be interested in her answer.

"Theoretically if they knew how to use the lift they could have come up whenever, so why didn't they? Why only attack when we were down there? If they were simply trying to stay undetected they could have just continued pretending to be mannequins while we were down there, but they decided to attack us." Phoenix explained as she reached her hand behind her to tug on her hair, nervous with all of his attention focused on her. "It wasn't exactly a smart thing to do, unless they were protecting something. And if they were protecting something down there, we didn't find it so why would they follow us? They were watching us the entire time we were down there, they'd know if we'd found anything they didn't want us to. And if they wanted to just kill people then they would have used the lift ages ago and attacked while people were shopping."

"That makes sense too. Well done." He responded before turning away, tucking the slender object into his pocket.

"Who are you, then?" Rose asked as the man pushed past her, pushing a nearby clothes rack to the side. "Who's that lot down there?" Phoenix hurried after the man, listening to Rose yell from behind them."I said, who are they?"

"Are they some kind of living plastic?" Phoenix wondered, jogging a bit to keep up with him. He looked at her with surprise and maybe a bit of suspicion, but she couldn't be sure if that's what she was seeing.

"Yes, exactly and they're being controlled by a relay device on the roof, which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this." The man said, turning around quickly and showing her a small beeping device that appeared to be a bomb. The two girls followed him up a set of short stairs and stopped as they reached a set of double doors at the top.

"So, I'm going to go up there and blow them up," He pushed a door open and pushed them out. " -and I might well die in the process, but don't worry about me."

Phoenix struggled against the push, turning to look at him. "You can't just-"

He quickly cut her off, looking completely serious. "Don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed."

The man stepped back inside and pulled the door shut as Phoenix tried to step inside. She frowned and shouted at the closed door. "Don't be such a stupid ape!"

The door opened again and Phoenix had to step back to avoid being hit by it. The mystery man was appeared again and Phoenix glared at him.

"I'm the Doctor, by the way. What's your name?"

"Phoenix." She murmured quietly, glancing at Rose. "And that's Rose. How are you going to get out?"

"Nice to meet you, Phoenix. Rose. Now, run for your life!" The Doctor waved the bomb with a wide smile and completely ignored her question, pulling the door closed again and disappearing.

Phoenix shook her head, tucked the plastic arm under her nonplastic arm and ran forward to grasp the door handles, pulling on them, but they didn't open. She shook the doors fiercely and bits of her hair fell into her hazel eyes until she finally gave up. She couldn't try forever since the building was about to go up.

"Rose, we need to.." She trailed off when she turned and saw that the blonde had already taken off across the street. Brushing her hair out of her face, she shoved the hurt down, glanced at the closed doors one more time, and ran across the street, not stopping until she was a good distance away from the building. She instinctively covered her face and flinched away as the building exploded, the shock wave knocking the windows out.

Seeing that she would be no good to the Doctor, Phoenix broke into a run towards the blonde and grabbed her hand, pulling her around the corner and across the street, refusing to stop until they were a good distance away from the building.

Phoenix swallowed thickly and leaned back against what appeared to be a Police box from the 1950's. What was that doing there? She glanced up at the building before grabbing the door handles on the box and pulling. The door didn't budge. Well, she didn't really think it would, honestly.

She turned and started walking in a random direction, letting the plastic arm hang by her side as she pulled her phone out of the pocket of her dark blue hoody. Quickly dialing the familiar number, she held the phone to her ear and fought the exhaustion that was starting to set in. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off the pain in her head was letting itself be known and all she wanted to do was curl up and sleep.

Her phone only rang once before someone answered. "Hello. Owen Harper speaking."

"Owen." She said with relief, a smile spreading across her face. "What are you doing right now? Are you busy?"

"Well, that's one way to put it. Why?" Owen asked and Phoenix frowned. She didn't want to pull him away from work. She knew it was important and that it took up most of his time. Ever since he'd gotten that promotion, he'd been way busier.

"Um, nothing. Never mind."

"That's not your nothing voice, that's your I'm worried and don't want to bother you voice. What's going on, love?" He asked, his tone concerned. She could just see him stopping everything just so that he could focus on her completely. It was what he always did when she needed him.

"Turn on the tele."

She needed to get home or at least to a friend's place. She would have gone to Owen's if he hadn't been busy, but she had known it was a long shot. She almost expected it these days, but this time she just really needed some comfort and she knew that he would do just that, even if he had to do it over the phone.

As she approached her favorite cafe, she found herself debating whether or not to stop and get something warm to drink. She could always get that chai tea she loved, she mused absently, nearly forgetting that she was on the phone.

"Henrick's? That's where you work, ain't it?" Owen asked, causing her to startle and roll her eyes at herself. She needed to stay focused. "Hold on, I'm coming to get you."

"No, Owen. You don't have to-"

"I'm coming and that's final. Now, where are you, love?" He cut her off and she could hear the sound of a car engine starting up in the background.

She sighed and sat down at one of the tables at the cafe, setting the arm down on the table. "I'm at Alina's cafe. Few blocks away from Henrick's."

"Right, be there in five."

She nodded and put on her best scolding tone. "Are you driving right now?"

"Yeah. Got a problem with that?" She couldn't stop herself from smiling at his playful tone. "Cause if you do, you'll just have to deal. I'm not hanging up until you're in my beautiful blue sports car."

She chuckled, not minding how commanding he was being. She knew he was just worried and wanted to be sure that nothing happened to her in the time it took for him to pick her up. He was like a big brother to her and so he was allowed to worry.

"Do I no...?" She trailed off and brought her hand up to rub her throbbing temple. It was only getting worse the more she calmed down. "Sorry, I didn't..." She trailed off again and rested her head down on the cool tabletop. Maybe that would help.

"You okay, love?" He asked, concern lacing his voice.

She was about to answer that she was fine, but was she? She honestly didn't know. Her head was killing her and with the adrenaline wearing off, she was becoming exhausted and the pain wasn't helping. Her muscles ached and she was definitely ready to pass out, not to mention without anything keeping her occupied she couldn't stop herself from thinking about Rose's words. That just made the situation even worse because on top of everything she was trying to stop herself from breaking down, which was a lot more difficult when she was exhausted as opposed to being mostly awake.

She didn't realize how long she'd been silent until she felt a hand on her head. Surprised by the action, she quickly sat up and turned quickly to see that it was just a very worried Owen. "Usually when someone asks if you're okay, you answer."

"Sorry." She murmured, rubbing her temples again. "I was thinking on how to answer."

"Right, come on, then." He pulled her to her feet and towards his car, glancing back at her. She quickly grabbed the plastic arm as she was dragged off though she wasn't sure why. Maybe she was just worried about what would happen if someone stumbled across it and it came back to life?

Owen made sure that Phoenix was situated in the car before he climbed into the driver's seat, glancing at her with worry before starting the car and pulling back out onto the road. She didn't look like she was doing too well. She kept rubbing her head and she looked like she would pass out at any moment. There was something else bothering her, but now probably wouldn't be the best time to ask what it was.

"How're you feeling?" He asked, hoping to keep her awake until he could check her over. She didn't look like she had any injuries, but still. When it came to the girl who was practically his little sister, he wanted to cover all of his bases.

"I hurt everywhere." She murmured, glancing over at him and leaning her head against the closed window. It felt good. "Mostly my head."

The rest of the drive was spent with Owen drilling her with questions. She tried to answer them as best she could, but after a while she was just too tired to even try. When Owen pulled her out of his car and led her into his apartment, sitting her on his couch, she barely noticed. She snapped back to awareness when he started prying the arm out of her hands, looking at it with confusion.

She didn't try to stop him, but she did keep a close eye on it as he tossed it onto a nearby chair. It wouldn't be great if it jumped to life and tried to kill them, after all.

"Right, stay here. I'll be back." Owen said, patting her hand before standing and going into his bedroom. He wasn't gone for more than a few seconds, but by the time he got back she'd curled up and was struggling to keep her eyes open. "Hey, none of that now. Need you awake. Look here."

She sighed and forced her eyes open, straightening and looking at him as he held his finger up, shining a light into her eyes. It made her head throb, but she knew he was good at his job so she didn't protest.

"You've got a minor concussion." He told her once he was done. "The rest is from the adrenaline. You hit your head, love?"

"Yeah, I fell." She told him, leaning forward to rest her head on his shoulder. "Probably would've been worse if Rose hadn't been there."

"Is she still causing you trouble?" Owen asked, moving to sit beside her on the couch and letting her curl up into his side. "Did she say something? You seemed really bothered in the car and that friend of yours is the only one who can get you in that kind of mood."

Phoenix didn't answer for a moment, tears welling up in her eyes. Owen knew how Rose had been acting towards her and she knew that she could tell him anything because he was always there for her or he tried to be. She knew he was busy with work and couldn't always be focused on her, but now that he was here, she was hesitant to tell him. She didn't want him to know just how bad things with Rose had gotten because she knew he would feel guilty. He really hadn't been able to see her that often, not for the last six months anyways.

"Love?" Owen pressed, his fingers gently massaging her temples. "What happened?"

"She..." Phoenix hesitated again before sighing and relaxing against Owen. He hadn't been able to be there for her, but he was there now. He was trying to help and it would make him even more guilty later on if she didn't just tell him now because it would just be another time he wasn't able to help her. "She told me to go home and cry to my mother."

Her voice was barely more than a whisper but Owen heard it easily and her words made his blood boil. How could someone who'd been her best friend once say that to her? The words were so simple and would probably seem stupid to get upset over to anyone else, but considering Phoenix's mother had died the last christmas, he couldn't believe someone would be so insensitive. Was the blonde really that distant to her? Owen wanted to hunt the girl down and yell at her for her harsh words, but as Phoenix started to shake he knew he couldn't.

"Now, don't cry, love. It's alright." Owen wrapped his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. "Just go to sleep. You'll feel better in the morning."

Phoenix smiled at Owen's words and let her eyes close. She could trust him to be there for her.

LIKE YOU COULD TRUST ROSE? The voice in the back of her head whispered to her. She had been like a sister to Rose once and now...the blonde could barely even look at her. She didn't even know what she'd done wrong, but it must have been horrible.

 **So as I said in the summary this is the original way I was going to write this story. I will probably stick with this one because I find that it's easier for me to stay in character with Phoenix with the ninth Doctor and I really need to get used to writing her character and this makes it easier. Hope you guys like it.**

 **Review, maybe?**


	2. Twice

A small part of Phoenix hoped that she could just continue lying in the comfy bed and sleep for the next decade. She wouldn't have to worry about Rose, she wouldn't have to worry about how her father was doing, how Jackie was doing, and most of all she wouldn't have to worry about dealing with the crushing sadness that would hit her everytime something reminded her of her mother. It was a nice dream, but unfortunately reality had to come knocking in the form of her phone blaring out the chorus of "Call Me" by Blondie.

Groaning loudly, Phoenix flipped over and felt around in the dark until her fingers finally found the device before glancing at the top right corner. The clock read 6:00 a.m. Way too early, considering what had happened the previous night. Letting her face drop to the pillow, she sluggishly hit the 'send' button and brought it up to her ear. Nina was already yelling into her ear before she could say anything.

"Where are you?!" The redhead demanded in her bubblegum voice. "You know what, it doesn't matter cause you wanna know where I am?" Phoenix got the distinct feeling that she was going to find out either way. "I'm at the Tyler's place!"

That made Phoenix crack an eye open. "What are you doing there?"

"Vanessa's pressing charges against you! Sayin' you blew up the shop!" Nina explained in a rush, compelling Phoenix to roll onto her back and pay better attention. "Rose is trying to convince her otherwise, but it's not going too well."

Phoenix knew that Vanessa Vulch, her co-worker, had never liked her, but it still surprised the girl that she would go so far as to lie to the police just to cause problems for her. Yes, she'd mess up the sorting that Phoenix had just finished or she'd "accidentally" spill her soda on her or even "forget she was there" when closing time came, but those were all fairly small compared to trying to get her arrested.

What surprised her even more however was that Rose was standing up for her. The blonde usually didn't care about what was going on in Phoenix's life and seemed to go to extra lengths _not_ to know. So what had changed? Was it because of the events at the shop? Rose had still seemed irritated with her though afterwards, so that didn't completely fit, but Phoenix couldn't think of anything else that might have changed the blonde's stance on their friendship.

"Did you even hear me?!" Nina snapped through the phone. "Vanessa's going to say you blew up Henrick's!"

"Yeah, I heard you." Phoenix drawled, sitting up and rubbing sleep out of her eyes. "Let her. She wasn't even at work. Rose can back me up with that along with everyone else who worked there. Not to mention, she can't lie to save her life." Silence hung on the line and Phoenix imagined herself on the receiving end of a "you can't be serious" glare. "Look, I'm not worried. Honestly. She's all talk and mostly no bite."

"Well, what if she's feeling peckish?" Nina demanded with a growl.

"Then I should be fine till dinner." Phoenix replied with false enthusiasm. "If you really want to help though, I'm going to need a new job."

Nina sighed and asked Jackie for any suggestions if the muffled murmuring was any indicator. "Jackie says that Finch's always has jobs. You could try them."

Phoenix cringed at the thought. "The butcher's? Really, Nina?"

"What's wrong with that?" Nina demanded, probably with a scowl.

Phoenix shook her head and sighed before pulling the phone away from her ear and hanging up. That was it then. The sign she'd been dreading for a while now.

Nina didn't know why she would have a problem working around a bunch of blood and dead animals. She knew it was kind of stupid, but suddenly - it felt like the world was ending.

How easily people could forget about a life passing. She'd seen her mother bleed out on her living room floor, had watched the coffin be buried in the dirt, and now she was watching everything else about her mother's life be buried in people's minds. She was the only one who hurt now.

It was selfish of her, but it had been easier to handle when everyone else had at least had her mother in their thoughts, even if it was just so they could be careful not to be insensitive towards Phoenix herself. It had still felt like her mother might walk through the door and wrap her in a hug, but now she was forced to face the reality that her mother was gone. Miranda Ebony Smith was now gone, forever.

Before the waterworks could start, Phoenix threw the covers off and jumped out of the bed, nearly hitting the glass window as she had forgotten where she was, and flipped the lights on, grabbing her galaxy converse on the way to the dresser. After about fifty times of her staying the night, Owen had given her a drawer in his dresser since she didn't like having to go all the way back to her place just to change.

At first she had thought that it would seem a bit weird, especially since she knew that he often had girls over, but it was nice to just have clothes when she needed them so she eventually just left it. If it became a problem for Owen then he would say something.

Yawning, Phoenix yanked her drawer open and pulled out the first outfit she saw - dark blue skinny jeans, a teal tanktop, and a black leather jacket. She dropped the clothes on the bed before wandering out to the living room. "Owen? You here?"

When she got no answer she sighed and turned to go back to the bedroom to change, but stopped when she saw a note on the fridge. It read: SORRY, LOVE. HAD TO GO TO WORK. IF YOU'RE HEAD STARTS TO HURT THERE'S SOME TYLENOL IN THE BATHROOM CABINET. STAY SAFE, OWEN.

Leaving the note where it was, Phoenix went back to the room and quickly changed, going into the bathroom to borrow Owen's comb and carefully combing through the tangles in her brown locks before pulling her hair up into a french braid. Her silver studs and the key her mother used to wear all the time finished the look.

She went to leave the room but paused as she examined her appearance. The face that was staring back was heart-shaped with a straight nose, light pink pouty lips, and smooth pale skin. That wasn't what had caught Phoenix's attention though. What had caught her attention were the eyes. They were big and hazel, framed with long, thin, but dark lashes and they sort of had an empty look to them. They used to be bright and alive, but now the girl looking back at her in the mirror was neither of those things. She was broken.

Shaking her head to break herself from her thoughts, she turned away from the mirror and left the bathroom, instead focusing her attention on lacing up her converse. She would be fine, she reminded herself as she stood, taking a deep breath and grabbing her phone. She would get through this, if not for herself, then for her mother. Her mother wouldn't want her to be sad for the rest of her life and as much as it hurt to even think about, Phoenix knew that her mother would want her to move on. So, that's what she would do. Easier said then done, she thought with a sigh.

She texted Owen to let him know that she was going to head back to her own flat rather than sitting around his place all day and then headed for the door, but paused when she remembered the plastic arm from the previous night. As much as she hated the idea of it, she couldn't just leave the arm for Owen to find, not with the chance that it would come back to life and try to kill him. Didn't need to lose someone else. So she reluctantly moved over to the chair Owen had tossed the arm on, picked it up with a grimace and hurried out the door, being sure to lock it before letting it swing shut.

It was an hour ride in a taxi to her small flat and she spent the entirety of it bouncing nervously in her seat and throwing concerned glances at the arm that was placed on the seat beside her. It hadn't appeared to have moved since last night, but something about it just really put her on edge. It almost felt like it was watching her, waiting for the right moment. She was probably just being paranoid, she reasoned, shaking her head and glancing out the window. Stop freaking out.

"A'ight, we're here." The cab driver said, breaking into her thoughts. Throwing twenty quid over the seat, she picked up the arm and rushed up to her flat, chucking the arm in a trash bin as she went. She didn't stop moving until she was safely locked in her flat and even then she found herself continuing to pace.

She hadn't really had time to let everything sink in and now that she did, she wasn't entirely sure what to think or how to act. She'd nearly died and whoever that Doctor guy was probably had died, considering how huge the explosion was and how quickly it destroyed the building. Why had she kept the arm? What was the point? She really should have just thrown it away at the cafe, but no she'd been stupid and kept it with her and now she was freaking out because of it.

Right, she needed to calm down and try to forget about what had happened at the shop. It was what she should do, otherwise she would probably go insane. No one would believe her and if she didn't forget she'd want to learn more. It would be dangerous. If living plastic were real, then how many other things were? Were there more of the living dummies or had it been limited to Henrick's? Who had that man been and how did he know so much?

Also, how had the plastic moved? The Doctor had said that they were being controlled by a relay device. Operative word being controlled, if the Doctor could be believed then something else had made them move. That something else would have to have put the relay device on the roof, letting it power the plastic and enable movement. But how to power plastic? Okay, so think about it. How do _you_ move?

Pacing back and forth in her room, she ran her hands through her hair, trying to wrap her head around the newest idea that was slowly presenting itself to her. That couldn't be possible...Oh...Oh! Maybe, just maybe. She couldn't even think about how it would possibly have been done, but one thing was sure. If she wanted to either confirm or disprove her theory, she would have to find the Doctor. He seemed to know what these things were and she was almost a hundred percent positive that he would have the information to fill in the gaps.

Her computer was already powered up so all she had to do was sit down and start working. First she made a list of what she knew. Something was controlling the plastic, there was a larger plan in all of this, and the Doctor knew at least something about what that plan was.

After an hour of searching and still getting no results, Phoenix scowled and hit the power button on the chair, letting her head hang back as the chair spun. If she couldn't find him, there was no way she would get her answers. Most people would be fine with that, in fact they would want to pretend that it was a dream. Let it fade into the wind.

But she couldn't do that. Once she was presented with a problem she couldn't drop it until she'd figured it out or until said problem was taken care of at least. It wasn't in her nature. Her mother had always said that if you gave up, you lost, but if you tried to look at it from a different angle...But what other angle was there?! She thought, running her hands through her hair angrily. She didn't have his name, she couldn't go to Henrick's - anything that might have been there would certainly be gone at this point - and she wasn't smart enough to figure out what these things were on her own. She'd eliminated everything she could think of. She didn't have enough information.

Shaking her head and huffing in exasperation, Phoenix pushed out of the chair and crossed the room to snatch her galaxy, canvas bag from the floor and yank it open. Everything was still there and she couldn't think of anything else that she might need so she slung it on one shoulder before leaving her room. She wasn't about to give up. She would find him, no matter what. Even if it meant asking Rose for help.

She doubted the blonde knew any more than she did, but two heads were better than one. At the very least Rose might have a different view on the entire situation, whether it would be helpful or not was another thing entirely.

She was about to leave out the backway when a soft rattling rang through the room. It had come from the cat flap at the front door or at least she thought it had.

"Triton?" She called, looking around for the black cat as she set her bag down on the couch. "Is that you?"

He usually didn't come in at this hour, but perhaps he'd gotten hungry. It wasn't too foreign of an idea. The sound came again as she neared the front door and she jumped a little as the catflap moved, though she still managed to feel happy that she'd located where it had come from correctly.

Crouching down slowly, she leaned over and cautiously reached out, pushing on it a tiny bit. When there was no reaction to the motion, she flipped it up so she could see through only to startle as she saw the bright blue eyes from last night. What was he doing here? Her lips parted in a gasp and she jerked up to a standing position, quickly unlocking the door and yanking it open.

It was him. The Doctor. Big ears and all. What were the odds?

"What are _you_ doing here?" He demanded, looking her up and down with a confused expression.

"I live here." She replied, raising her eyebrows at his rudeness. "I should be asking what you're doing here."

"Well, what do you do that for?" He wondered, disbelief coloring his tone as he continued looking her up and down.

She was silent for a moment, watching as he dug around in his pockets. "Is that really so strange to you?"

"Yes, it is." He told her as he drew out the strange slender object he'd used on the lift controls, pointing it up and making it buzz. "Must've got the wrong signal. You're not plastic, are you?" He asked while reaching out to tap his fist on her forehead as if knocking.

"Ow!" She protested, glaring at him.

"No, bonehead. Bye, then." He said, rudely before turning to leave, his attention completely straying from her.

"Get in here." Phoenix ordered, reaching out and gripping his jacket tightly in her fingers so she could pull him into her flat and close the door. "Are you alright? Did you get injured in the explosion?"

The Doctor watched her with raised eyebrows as he tucked his sonic into his pocket. He wasn't surprised that she had questions, but he would have expected her to be inquiring about how the plastic had animated or who he was or even what the sonic was, not his well-being. Was she after something? Did she need him for something? Or was she really just concerned?

"Fine, thanks." He replied nonchalantly before walking further into her flat and examining everything.

"Look, I've been doing some thinking about what happened last night." Phoenix started, watching him look at her things. He stopped when he spotted her bag, half grimacing and half smiling. She honestly couldn't tell if he liked it or not. "I think I've figured it out. At least partially."

The Doctor looked up at that, his eyes curious. "What's your theory?"

"Well, you said that the dummies were being controlled by a relay device implying that someone had to have put it there and they need help transmitting the signal to the dummies." Phoenix responded, leaning against her couch and watching the Doctor's face carefully for any sign that she was right. "At first I couldn't figure out how someone could even get the plastic moving, but then it hit me. We move because of our brain sending signals to our bodies so why couldn't someone do the same with the dummies? Obviously, there's more to it than that, but I'm working with what I've got."

The Doctor stared at her for a moment with wide eyes. He was impressed. This human girl was able to figure all of that out from him telling her about the relay device? "You are fantastic!"

"Does that mean I'm right?" She wondered with a smile as she pushed away from the couch.

"Yep." He nodded as he wandered over to her coffee table, picking up her issue of Heat and flipping through it. "That won't last. He's gay and she's an alien."

"You say that as if aliens are real." Phoenix murmured, reaching behind her to tug on the end of her braid as he picked up her copy of Lovely Bones. He glanced up at her with a knowing smile. "Are they?"

He nodded again, flicking through the book. "Hmm. Sad ending."

She frowned and headed into the kitchen, pulling out two mugs. "You want a coffee?"

He seemed so sure that aliens were real and Phoenix couldn't help but believe him. It made sense, after all how could the entire universe be empty if there was so much of it? That was more difficult to believe then aliens being real. It would be lonely if they weren't real. An empty universe...

"Might as well, thanks. Just milk." The Doctor responded and she glanced back to see him flipping through her mail. "Phoenix Smith."

"So, how many aliens are there?" She wondered, pouring the coffee into the mugs. "You seem to be the one to ask."

"Tons. Luck be a lady." Glancing back again, she saw him attempting to shuffle a deck of cards and failing miserably by sending them flying in all directions. She chuckled and went to get the milk from the fridge. "Maybe not."

"How do you know so much about aliens then?" She wondered, stirring the drinks. "Are you like an alien enthusiast or something?"

"Or something." He sounded distracted as he spoke. "What's that then? Have you got a cat?"

"Yeah. Why?" She inquired, twisting to give him a speculative look.

He opened his mouth to respond when the arm she'd chucked out earlier suddenly came flying from behind the chair, gripping his throat tightly and cutting off his air supply. Eyes going wide, she hurried over to him, abandoning the drinks and letting the spoon clatter to the ground. She desperately latched onto the arm and pulled, but it was stronger than she would have expected.

The good news was that after another moment of struggling, they managed to pull the arm away from the Doctor's throat, the bad news was it immediately latched onto Phoenix's face, covering her airways. She tried to stay calm, but she couldn't fight her body's natural reaction to being smothered. She immediately panicked, backing up into the wall and pulling at the arm. The Doctor joined her in trying to pry the arm off, but the plastic held tight.

Continuing to struggle, she suddenly pitched forward, landing on something soft as a loud crash sounded. She would have gasped if she could at the abrupt motion, but she quickly found herself being pushed back into the couch, the buzzing sound of the Doctor's tool sounding by her face. Just as her head began pounding from the lack of oxygen, the arm was yanked away from her face and she began gasping in as much air as she could. She rolled her head over to watch the Doctor press the tool into the palm of the arm's hand, holding it there until the plastic became motionless.

"It's all right. I stopped it. There you go, you see?" He said, tossing it to her with a large smile. "Armless."

She glared and smacked his shoulder with it.

"Ow!" He whined, holding his arm and frowning at her before standing, grabbing the arm and heading for her front door.

She scowled and pushed herself to her feet, nearly running after him down the stairs outside her flat. "Where do you think you're going? You can't just go swanning off."

"Yes, I can. Here I am. This is me, swanning off-See ya!" He replied brightly, still hurrying down the stairs.

"That thing just tried to kill me...Again." She protested with a scoff.

"Ten out of ten for observation." He responded, his tone mockingly sarcastic.

"Don't just walk away." She snapped angrily, glowering at his leather clad back. "You have to tell me what's going on."

"No. I don't." He said brightly, hitting the last stair and heading out the gate.

"I need you to tell me what's going on." She murmured, jogging up to his side. "Otherwise, I'll have no choice but to go find someone else who can help me. And in order for them to do that, I'll have to start talking. You said if I did that, then I'd get people killed. So, tell me or you leave me no choice."

"Is that supposed to sound tough?" He wondered, glancing back at her with a grin.

"No. It's just a fact." She kept her hazel eyes on his blue ones. "I _need_ to know."

She didn't want to sound like a weak and desperate loser, but the truth was when it came to figure out a puzzle, she couldn't help but do anything she could think of to solve it. If he wouldn't help her then she would have to find someone who would. It was either that or go mad with curiosity.

"Why?" He demanded, slowing down and looking at her with wondering eyes. "Why not just live in ignorance like everyone else?"

"Ignorance is dangerous." She answered instantly, dodging around a tree. "Knowledge has power. It's an easy choice."

"Is that supposed to make me change my mind?"

"Sort of." She replied, watching their feet as they walked in sync with each other.

"Doesn't work."

They walked in silence for a minute, her watching the ground and him watching her. She was smarter than any other ape he'd met and he was almost excited to hear how she'd respond. She'd pretty much figured out what was going on already, she was just missing maybe three or four pieces of information and that was fantastic. If he wasn't so busy, he might ask her to travel with him, but now wasn't the time.

"Who are you?" Her voice was soft like a calm waterfall in spring and it made the Doctor glance at her with curious eyes. She didn't sound angry, irritated, pleading, or any of the other adjectives he might have expected. She was calm, collected, curious, with an undercurrent of something else. Something he couldn't quite put his finger on. And to top it off her reactions were the complete opposite to what he would expect from a human.

First in the lift, when she had disproved the theory Rose had, second when she had given sound reasoning to why the Autons wouldn't follow them up the lift. It was wrong and right at the same time, but most people would have just assumed since the Autons were trying to kill them they would just continue trying to do so. The third time was when she had guessed that the Autons were living plastic. She'd surprised him again when she had called him a stupid ape since it was his nickname for humans, and again when she'd inquired about how he would be getting out of the building. Then when she'd asked if he was alright instead of drilling him with questions about who he was or what he'd been doing at the shop. And now she was completely calm even after he'd nearly gotten her killed. She was an enigma to him.

"Told you-" He said, glancing back at her again. Not even a second had passed while he was thinking. "-The Doctor."

"The Doctor?" She repeated and he looked back to see her raising her eyebrows at him.

"Hello!" He said cheerfully, waving at her with a large grin.

"Is that supposed to sound impressive?" She asked with a chuckle, surprising herself with the first real smile she'd had in a long time.

"Sort of."

"You can tell me. Or are you the police?" She asked, bumping his shoulder with her own.

"No!" He protested, shaking his head. "I was just...passing through." He paused for a moment and when he spoke next she could hear a trace of sadness in his voice. "I'm a long way from home."

"Why did the dummies want to kill me and Rose?" She wondered after a brief moment of silence, listening to the slap of her shoes on the asphalt.

"Oh, suddenly the entire world revolves around you." He exclaimed with a bit of irritation. "You were just an accident. You got in the way, that's all."

She looked down at her shoes as his words hit home. He was certainly perceptive, already noticing how much of a burden she was after only meeting her twice. She knew his words were true, but she couldn't stop the bit of irritation and hostility that laced her voice. "Yeah, I know. But it doesn't change the fact that it tried to kill me. Twice."

He threw a quick sharp glance at her, surprised again. He'd expected her to remain calm and here she was practically biting his head off.

"It was after _me_ , not _you_." He replied with slight exasperation, gesturing towards himself. "Last night, in the shop, I was there, you blundered in, almost ruined the whole thing. This morning, I was tracking it down," He raised the arm as an example, "it was tracking me down. The only reason it fixed on you-" He gestured towards her before dropping his arm and transfering the plastic arm to his right hand. "-is 'cause you've met me."

"So, what you're saying is that the entire world revolves around you?" She asked with a scoff, waving her hand towards him.

"Sort of, yeah." He answered, his tone light as he smiled at her.

She shook her head and looked down, trying to hide her smile. "You're insane."

"Sort of, yeah."

And apparently very good at distracting people, she thought as she remembered what she had originally wanted to know. So far he hadn't really answered any of her questions. The only new thing she had learned was that for whatever reason the plastic wanted him and he had a big ego.

"Does anyone else know about the living plastic?" She inquired, attempting to get some more answers as she kept pace with him.

"No one." He told her with a resigned sigh as he glanced at her.

"So you're on your own?" That sounded a bit dangerous if he usually did things such as blowing up buildings to stop living plastic.

He didn't answer for a moment and when he did there was a hint of loneliness in his voice. "Well, who else is there? I mean, you lot-all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly. When all the time, underneath you, there's a war going on."

She watched him in silence for a moment before reaching over and taking the arm from him. "What war would that be?"

"Doesn't matter." He told her, his tone nonchalant. Something in his voice though, made her think that it was just a front.

How could a war not matter? And if humans didn't know about it then how did he? The way he spoke...it seemed to Phoenix that he set himself apart from the rest of humanity. She didn't know if it was just a preference or if he wasn't...well, she couldn't determine anything at the moment.

"Okay, then the arm..." She held it up to show him. "..how'd you kill it?"

He looked between her and the arm with a look of confusion before he nodded. "Alright. The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal-dead."

"So, radio control?" She questioned, glancing up at him and squinting against the bright light from the sun.

"Thought control." He corrected and they walked a few steps more before he eyed her carefully. "You all right?"

"Yeah, just thinking." She murmured with a perfunctory nod, glancing around before focusing on him. "So, it's pretty much my theory only the signals being sent with the relay device are the same as the brain would send to the body." She stated, inspecting the arm. "So, who's brain is sending the signals to the dummies?"

"Long story." He muttered, looking away from her.

And he's back to dodging all of my questions, she thought with a sigh. He knew the answer so why wasn't he telling her? Was he just trying to make sure she didn't go looking for whoever it was or did he have some other reason? Well, whatever his reason was, she wasn't letting him get away without answering her questions.

"Why the shop dummies? Is someone trying to take over Britain's shops?" She asked, causing him to chuckle as she smiled at him.

"No. It's not a price war." He joked with her, both of them laughing, but the conversation soon turned serious again. "They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you."

There he went again, she thought, going on about humans but excluding himself. She filed that away for later as she focused on the fact that whoever was controlling the plastic was trying to invade Earth. It was a terrifying thought, especially since he wouldn't tell her who was controlling the dummies.

"Do you believe me?" At the sound of his voice she looked up at him.

Did she believe him? Yes. Did she want to? Not particularly. "No." She shook her head.

"But you're still listening." He pointed out with a gentle smile and a knowing glint in his eye. He knew she had lied, she was sure of it, but he didn't seem to hold it against her. Most people would probably call her out on the lie or get frustrated with her for lying over something that seemed so small, but he was different. Either he was just trying to get rid of her or he understood.

She tensed and stopped, watching as he continued walking. "Seriously, who are you?"

He turned around and peered at her speculatively for a moment before smiling a little. "Do you know, like we were saying? About the Earth revolving?"

She nodded, listening carefully as she stared into his eyes. She felt like she could stare at them forever, they were so mesmerizing.

"It's like when you're a kid." He started, slowly walking over to her. "The first time they tell you the world's turning, and you just can't quite believe it 'cause everything looks like it's standing still." He came to a stop in front of her, turning to look directly into her eyes with a stare so intense she found that she couldn't look away if she'd wanted to.

"I can feel it." He reached over and gently took her hand, wrapping his fingers around her own. As soon as they're skin connected, she could almost swear that she could feel it too. "The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling round the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour." His eyes connected with hers again and she almost felt like they were grounding her. "And I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go..." He let her hand drop and everything was still again, disorienting her as she readjusted. She was surprised that she didn't fall over. "That's who I am. Now, forget me, Phoenix Smith." He bent down to take the arm from her, making it wave at her as he smiled gently. "Go home."

She wanted to follow him as he turned and walked away, but at the same time, she was afraid of what might happen if she did. He was confusing, amazing, and frightening. He had the answers she wanted-no, the answers she _needed_.

He was like her. She'd seen it in his eyes. He knew what loss was and he didn't forget. She couldn't be sure what loss that was, but it didn't matter. Loss hurt. It was possibly one of the most painful things in existence.

She turned to leave as he stopped by...a 1950's phone box. Freezing in place, she peered at it as he went inside. What were the chances of two of those floating around London? Pretty much zero. How did it get there? Maybe he had it towed or something?

Her lips parted in a gasp and her eyes widened as the box started groaning and just faded away, leaving a blank spot...as if it had never been there, she thought. For a moment she just stared before cautiously walking over and stopping in the spot the box had been just a moment ago. How was that possible?

She turned around looking down at her feet before she knelt and let her fingers brush across the asphalt. It felt like road. There was nothing different and she found herself almost disappointed.

Honestly, she knew she should just go home and do what he said. Forget. Realistically, however, she knew she couldn't, so she stood and ran towards her flat, bounding up the stairs and into her place.

She immediately went into her bedroom, pulling up her web browser and typing in three simple words. DOCTOR, BLUE BOX.

 **So here it is! Chapter 2. Hope you guys enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you do, it'll only take a minute of your time at most to type out a review and I would definitely love to hear all of your thoughts on this story so far. Questions, comments, suggestions, all of them. Allons-y!**


	3. Third Time's The Charm

**So, first I wanted to start this by apologizing for taking so long to update. I had so much to do and I lost inspiration for a little while, but I've finished Chapter 3 and will try to update more frequently from now on! Hope you guys like it!**

"What are you doing here?"

Phoenix turned to see an angry and confused Rose Tyler storming over to her and let out a sigh before tucking her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket and walking to meet her halfway. Why was she here? Maybe she was just as curious as Phoenix was about who the Doctor was? They had used to love solving puzzles together. It would be plausible since she was at Henrick's also when he'd shown up and blown the place to smithereens. Besides, what other reason was there?

Maybe she was there to talk about Vanessa telling the cops Phoenix herself was responsible for blowing up Henrick's but honestly Phoenix didn't think Rose would care past the whole talking to the cops moments. She would probably let it go and let Phoenix deal with it herself at this point in their no longer existing friendship. No other reason presented itself to her.

"I found someone who can tell me about the Doctor." Phoenix stated, stopping in front of the girl and squinting against the sun that was now in her eyes. "I assume that's why you and Mickey are here as well."

Rose seemed startled by her answer for a second before she glanced behind herself and Phoenix knew the blonde was wondering how she had spotted the yellow car that belonged to one Mickey Smith A.K.A Rose's boyfriend. It wasn't actually that hard. In fact all she had to do was pay attention which was something she did a lot of so as not to be taken unawares.

"Yeah." Rose replied, turning back to her. "This bloke, Clive, said he knew about him. Shall we go?"

"You aren't going to throw a fit and try to get me to leave?" Phoenix asked with a frown and a raised eyebrow. "You're just going to agree to work together? Just like that?"

The blonde nodded before walking past her and going up to the door, knocking lightly. Phoenix nodded slowly to herself though she was sure her eyes were wide with shock and confusion. Rose really was just as curious as she was, that had to be it. There was no other reason she could think of that the blonde would ever be okay with working peacefully with her. At least not with how the girl had been treating her.

Hearing the door open, she turned and hurried to Rose's side. A boy about thirteen opened the door, looking between Rose and Phoenix. He must be the son Clive spoke about, she thought, letting Rose speak.

"Um, hello. I've come to see Clive." She murmured before glancing at Phoenix and elaborating. "We've been emailing."

"Oh." He looked back into the house. "Dad! It's two of your nutters!"

Phoenix rolled her eyes as the boy grimaced at her and Rose with slight disgust. Obviously, Clive felt very strongly about what he knew of the Doctor and apparently the boy heard quite a bit about it. It made sense that he would get tired of it, but being rude was uncalled for.

Phoenix reached back to tug on her hair, glancing up as a man who she assumed was Clive walked over to the door, an expression of excitement on his face. He had curly brown hair, cut short, and beady brown eyes. His expression was friendly and Phoenix didn't sense anything amiss about it, so when he offered his hand for her to shake, she politely accepted and shook it firmly once.

"Hello. You must be Rose." He turned away from her and to Rose. "And you're Phoenix. I'm Clive, obviously."

"Actually, I'm Phoenix. She's Rose." Phoenix corrected, tucking her hands into her back pockets and shifting on her feet.

"I'd better tell you now." Rose piped up with a smile, pointing over her shoulder. "My boyfriend's waiting in the car, just in case you're going to kill me."

Clive laughed and glanced at Mickey. "No, good point. No murders."

Phoenix peeked at a glaring Mickey as Clive waved at him before turning to examine the inside of Clive's home. Straight ahead there was a staircase, a hall beside it with several doors lining it and that was about all she could see from where she was. There were some family photo's on the walls and on a small desk that was by the door. They seemed very happy.

"Who is it?" A woman's voice echoed down the stairs.

"Oh, it's something to do with the Doctor. These girls have been reading the website." Clive called up the stairs before turning back to Phoenix and Rose. "Please, come through. I'm in the shed."

Phoenix nodded and slipped past Clive and into the hall where he directed her, Rose quickly following. She could hear Clive's wife wondering about how they were female and wondering about the Doctor but she blocked it out as she headed down some stairs and into Clive's shed.

Upon entering she saw that the small room was stuffed with clutter and there was only a walkway around a small table in the center of the room. All of the walls were lined with things and from what she could tell most of it was books and files though he did have a computer resting on a desk on the opposite side of the room. There was a star chart on the wall and a window behind the computer which had the same picture from Clive's website on the screen.

"A lot of this stuff's quite sensitive. I couldn't just send it to you." Clive said carefully, breaking her from her observations as he left Phoenix and Rose standing by the computer. "People might intercept it...if you know what I mean." He turned away from them and started rifling through a stack of folders.

Phoenix nodded slowly. "I think so."

"If you dig deep enough and keep a lively mind, this Doctor keeps cropping up all over the place." He continued, turning to them with a dark blue folder in hand. It was almost the same shade as the Doctor's police box. "Political diaries, conspiracy theories, even ghost stories." Phoenix shuffled a little uncomfortably as Clive moved to stand between her and Rose, setting the file on the table. "No first name, no last name, just 'The Doctor'. Always 'The Doctor'."

Phoenix suppressed a sigh as she continued to listen. So far she wasn't learning anything new apart from the Doctor being more widespread then she'd realized, but she had already figured that things like blowing up shops to stop living plastic were things he did often.

"And the title seems to have been passed down from father to son. It appears to be an inheritance." Clive said before pointing at the computer screen. "That's your Doctor there, isn't it?"

Rose ducked down and peered at the screen for a moment before answering. "Yeah."

Phoenix didn't have to look since it was the same picture she'd already seen. Again, nothing new.

"I tracked it down to the Washington public archive just last year. The online photo's enhanced, but if we look at the original..." He turned and pulled a plastic bag with photo's out of the blue folder.

In the first photo, Phoenix easily spotted the Doctor and it wasn't just because Clive had drawn a red circle with an arrow or because he was pointing at him. The Doctor was a very distinguishing person, not just in looks but with the way he held himself. He was a leader and made you want to look at him without even having to say a word.

In the picture the Doctor was standing in a crowd and while the people were all looking to their right's, the Doctor was looking straight at the camera. Curious. For someone who wanted people to forget about him, he didn't seem to be hiding from the media much. At least not in this photo.

The second photo was the same just with more of the scene showing and Phoenix could see that the crowd was on the side of the street and from the motorcycle in the left corner of the photo, it looked like they were observing a parade of some sort. She frowned as she looked at the people's clothing. They were quite a bit older and definitely out of style enough so that there would only be one person if any wearing those sort of clothes in this day and age.

Phoenix's eyes went wide as Clive revealed a third photo this one taken the widest. It appeared to be taken on -

"November the 22nd, 1963. The assassination of President Kennedy. You see?" Clive spoke from beside her and Phoenix peered down at the Doctor's face in the crowd again. He looked exactly the same as he had that morning from what she could tell. But how was that possible?

"It must be his father." Rose murmured from Clive's other side, causing Phoenix to frown. She'd heard of people looking a lot like their parents, but they couldn't look exactly like them. There would have to be differences and there was definitely no difference between the man in the photo's and the Doctor. They were even wearing the same clothes though the Doctor had a green jumper instead of maroon. She didn't know how it was possible, but from the looks of it the Doctor had been at Kennedy's assassination.

"Going further back." Clive said, the excitement back in his voice as he darted around them towards another shelf, leaving the girls to continue looking at the picture. "April 1912."

Phoenix looked up as he walked back over, a sketchbook with a photo on top of it in hand. "This is a photo of the Daniels family of Southampton," He pointed to a man who was once again the Doctor. "'and friend.'"

In this photo, the Doctor was wearing a suit and standing beside the Daniels family, hands behind his back. It was definitely him again, but there was no difference besides his clothes. How was this possible? She asked herself, her eyes narrowing and her frown deepening.

"This was taken the day before they were due to sail off for the New World on the Titanic, and for some unknown reason, they cancelled the trip and survived." Clive said, glancing at Rose and her before pulling another photo out. "And here we are...uh...1883. Another Doctor."

Phoenix glanced down to see a sketch of a man standing beside a mountain. There was smoke drawn in the picture and the paper had signs of age on it, making her doubt that it was a fake.

"And look, the same lineage. He's identical. This one washed up on the coast of Sumatra on the very night that Krakatoa exploded." Clive said, going silent for a moment as he let the information sink in. When he did speak his tone had a darker edge to it. "The Doctor is a legend woven throughout history." Phoenix carefully brought her gaze up to meet Clive's. "When disaster comes, he's there. He brings the storm in his wake and he has one constant companion."

"Who's that?" Rose asked from behind Phoenix, her voice soft and slightly disturbed.

"Death." Clive responded, his tone morbid. "If the Doctor's back, if you've seen him, Phoenix, Rose, then one thing's for certain..We're all in danger."

Phoenix regarded him silently for a moment before her eyes drifted back to the photo's on the desk. It was definitely the Doctor in each one and none of them were fakes. She wasn't sure how she knew, but she did. It was him. Not his father or his grandfather. Him. She wasn't sure what to make of the whole his constant companion is death thing, but it didn't matter as much to her at the moment. What she was interested in was him. How could he possibly be in all of those places? Why wouldn't he tell her who had been controlling the dummies? What was she going to do with the information she had gathered? It had answered none of her questions. She'd come here hoping to find out who the Doctor was, but all she had so far were more questions.

"If he's singled you out, if the Doctor's making house calls-" Clive said, putting all of his things away before he sighed and turned back to the two girls. "-then God help you."

"But who is he?" Rose asked, her tone slightly irritated as she brought her hand down onto the table.

"Who do _you_ think he is?" Phoenix interjected, catching Clive's gaze with her own.

"I think he's the same man." Clive walked over and leaned against the table, coming eye level with her. "I think he's immortal. I think he's an alien from another world."

She'd been thinking along the same lines after how the Doctor had been speaking that morning, but to hear it from someone else brought the situation crashing down. She'd often questioned how she thought she would feel if she ever found out that aliens or monsters were real and she had always thought that she would freak out or be completely terrified. But all she felt in that moment was calm. It almost felt right to her. Then again it could just be the calm before the storm.

Rose grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the door, jerking her from her thoughts. "Right, then. Thanks, but we should really be going. We had dinner plans and we don't wanna be late."

Clive nodded, still smiling widely as Phoenix looked at Rose. "I understand. I hope I helped you."

With that he led them to the door, opening it for them. Phoenix followed Rose out and to Mickey's car, glancing at Mickey for a second. He had a wide smile on his face and a strange look in his eye. He seemed different and a little creepy.

"So, we have dinner plans, do we?" Phoenix asked, standing beside Rose and tilting her head to the side. "Where are we eating?"

Rose looked like she was going to snap at her but after a second the blonde sighed and opened the back door for her. "I don't know. Fancy a pizza?"

"Pizza!" Mickey piped up from the front seat and as Phoenix climbed into the car she peered closely at him.

His skin seemed a bit shiny and his expression was a bit stiff. Though that could be from light reflecting off of him and the fact that he had been sitting in the car waiting for them, but she couldn't help but think that it was something more than that. Something had changed in the time that she and Rose had been speaking to Clive. However, she couldn't just tell Rose that, now could she? The blonde would never believe her. Most people would probably put as much distance between themselves and the creepy guy who looked like he could be a serial killer and on most days Phoenix would have that exact reaction, but Rose was there. And no matter where the two of them stood at the moment, she would never leave her alone if there was even a hint of danger. She'd learned the hard way to keep those you loved close to you.

"All right, he's a nutter. Off his head." Rose said as she climbed into the seat beside Mickey. "Complete online conspiracy freak. You win!"

"Pizza! P-p-p-pizza!" Mickey repeated, not even looking at her.

Phoenix frowned at the back of his head and sank back into her seat. Rose tried suggesting other things, but creepy Mickey kept insisting on pizza. This was just another thing that was odd. Mickey was usually more open to compromise then this, maybe he was just seriously craving pizza, but Phoenix didn't think that was it. Her suspicion was strengthened as Mickey started driving. He kept switching sides on the street and to say it was a bumpy ride would be an understatement. Rose told him to stop mucking around several times, but his only response was to say pizza. Again, creepy.

By the time they got to the pizzeria, Phoenix was more than eager to get out of the car. Honestly, if she hadn't been in public she might have gotten on her hands and knees and kissed the asphalt. Glancing back at Mickey, Phoenix wondered not for the first time what the hell was wrong with him before she excused herself from the couple to go order the pizza.

She ordered a large pepperoni before leaning against the counter and glancing back at Rose and Mickey. Rose was chattering away, playing with her nails while Mickey was sitting across from her, unblinking with that creepy smile still plastered on his face. Phoenix was really starting to feel unnerved and even a tiny bit frightened of him. Never in all the time she'd known him had she ever seen him this way. He'd always been the happy, sometimes not so bright but braver then he thought guy who loved Rose without a doubt. Now, who was he? The biggest creep in the universe. There was no way that had just happened over night. He'd seemed fine in the car before they'd gone into Clive's house though, she thought frowning as she absently took her number from the person behind the counter. Her eyes narrowed and she pushed away from the counter, walking over to the table and plopping down into the seat between Mickey and Rose. She opened her mouth to say something but Mickey the wannabe Ken doll beat her to it.

He turned to her his smile finally dropping though she wasn't sure which expression she preferred. Now he was almost glaring at her as he leaned towards her. "So, where did you meet this Doctor?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, was I talking about me for a second?" Rose demanded, her tone full of vehemence as her eyes flared with anger.

"Because I reckon it started back at the shop, am I right?" Mickey ignored Rose as his gaze stayed glued on Phoenix. "Was he something to do with that?"

Phoenix's throat closed up and her heart started pounding a mile a minute as the familiar fear and suspicion rose within her though this time she didn't think it was a false alarm as it had been so many times before. Mickey's eyes hinted at dark thoughts and though she would never have thought that Mickey would ever lift a hand to hurt her, she couldn't be sure now. Not this Mickey.

She'd been silent too long she realized as Mickey's head tilted to the side and his eyes narrowed dangerously. She blinked and cleared her throat before stammering out a response. "N-no. W-we met at...we met at..."

"Come on." Mickey said, the creepy smile spreading across his face as he stared at her. "We both know he was there."

Phoenix tried to swallow down her fear as she turned her gaze to the tabletop, trying to calm herself enough to think. Something was definitely up with him and right now, he was dangerous. Maybe the dummies were effecting him by sending signals to him as well, but wouldn't he have to be plastic then? She dismissed the idea and glanced at a very confused and angry looking Rose who was now practically yelling at Mickey, who was still ignoring her.

Did it matter what was wrong with him? She could figure it out later, but right now she wasn't entirely sure how far he would go to get what he wanted from her. Even with Rose right there and the camera's in the pizzeria ready to reflect the events of whatever could happen...she was so stupid! Something was most certainly not right!

Her eyes snapped up to his and then she saw it. The small detail she'd failed to notice when she'd first looked him over in the car. She'd chalked it up to the sun reflecting off his mirrors or the windshield or something, but now there was no sun to reflect. No light but the dim bulbs hanging over their heads and those weren't bright enough for the gleam she was seeing on Mickey's face. She'd seen it before on the dummies in the basement at Henricks. Obviously she shouldn't have dismissed her Mickey is now plastic theory.

It took everything in her to stay sitting instead of leaping out of her chair, grabbing Rose and making a run for it. She didn't know what would happen to everyone else in the pizzeria if she left and since the living plastic were so unpredictable the risk was too large for her to take lightly. The plastic obviously wanted to know about the Doctor and it thought she knew something so it was using Mickey to get to her. It'd taken his body or copied it or something, she didn't know, but whatever had happened, Mickey was gone and this... _thing_ was left in his place.

"Would you pay attention to me instead of-"

"Why do you want to know about him, Mickey?" Phoenix interrupted Rose and she was immediately rewarded by the plastic Mickey's head snapping over to look at her. "What does it matter to you?"

"I want to help you. Tell me about the Doctor and what he's planning, and I can help you, Phoenix." Plastic Mickey said, his tone not reassuring at all as he glared at her.

Phoenix bit her lip and glanced back down at the table. She needed to find out how to stall him without saying anything about what little she'd managed to learn about the Doctor and without getting herself and Rose killed. She turned to the plastic thing sitting beside her and opened her mouth to say who knows what when a voice cut into the tension.

"Your champagne."

"We didn't order any champagne." Plastic Mickey dismissed, his expression darkening considerably as he leaned forward and grabbed her hand in a painful grasp. "Where's the Doctor?"

She knew he was very close to shattering the bones in her hand and now she knew how far he was willing to go. That thought alone caused her heart to pound frantically in her chest as her throat closed in fear again. She tried to keep her breaths steady for Rose's sake, but she couldn't stop the frightened gasps escaping her lips. She needn't have bothered since the blonde was so wrapped up in her anger at Mickey and Phoenix that she didn't seem to even notice how tense the atmosphere was at the moment.

"Madam, your champagne." The waiter was back, only this time he was offering the drink to Rose and Phoenix could have sworn that she recognized his voice. She couldn't be sure however since he'd only said five words so far and she was having trouble tearing her eyes away from plastic Mickey.

"It's not ours." Rose dismissed him as well, leaning towards Mickey. "Mickey, what is it? What's wrong?"

"I need to find out how much you know, so where is he?" Mickey ignored her again and Phoenix gasped in pain as he tightened his grip on her.

Images of all the terrible things she was sure Plastic Mickey could do to her came unbidden to her mind. Images of him shattering her hand before he leaped across the table, his hand closing around her throat and tightening until she couldn't breathe. Until she couldn't stay awake, until she was dead just like her mother.

Before she really knew what she was doing she'd snatched up a fork and plunged it into plastic Mickey's forehead, yanking her hand away from him once his fingers had loosened in shock and leaping to her feet. Rose gasped in shock and her hands flew to her mouth. Phoenix could feel everyone's eyes on her, even the waiter's, but she couldn't bring herself to look away from Mickey. He didn't seem to be in pain or even upset. In fact, he was smiling that creepy smile of his as he looked at her. No, not at _her_. At someone behind her.

"Ah. Gotcha." Mickey said and Phoenix turned sharply, her eyes connecting with the bright blue eyes of none other than the Doctor. She stared at him, wide-eyed as worry pooled in her stomach as she realized he'd seen her stab Mickey with a fork. Before she could really dwell on this, she felt Rose stand, a horrified gasp escaping her and causing Phoenix to turn back to her. What she saw had her eyes widening while at the same time something she couldn't quite place coursed through her veins.

The fork she'd embedded in Mickey's forehead was being absorbed by his skin, literally disappearing before he locked his eyes onto her and spit it out onto the table. "Anyways."

He smiled at them as he stood, raising his hand. As she watched, his hand flattened and elongated until it resembled a square paddle which he proceeded to bring crashing down onto the table, effectively cutting it in half. Once done he started forward towards her, his eyes holding a manic glint that only helped his smile look more creepy. She didn't even think that was possible.

Phoenix couldn't help it. She just stared at him with wide eyes. She knew she should probably run, scream, or anything other than what she was doing. He was reaching forward to grab her when he was suddenly pushed back and she broke out of her brief moment of paralysis to focus on who had pushed Mickey. It was the Doctor and he currently had Mickey in a headlock and was pulling on his head. She had a brief moment of deja vu and her mind flitted back to the elevator when he'd pulled the dummies arm off and true to her expectation, after a few tugs, Mickey's head came off with a pop.

She'd realized what the Doctor was going to do, but still she was surprised to feel her stomach clench in guilt and horror. It wasn't a person, only an imitation of one. It was nothing more than a puppet. Why should she feel remorse for it's head being pulled off? And more then that, it had no doubt been willing to kill her and possibly Rose and everyone in the pizzeria to get the information it wanted. So why was she feeling so uneasy?

She barely registered the screams of the customers around her as she was too focused on the head in the Doctor's hands. The head that was still talking! "Don't think that's going to stop me."

Phoenix glanced at the Doctor and had to do a double take to see that he was smiling! What was there to smile about? She was fairly sure that this was what had broken her out of her shocked state. It wasn't the now thrashing body of Plastic Mickey, it wasn't the panicked and confused Rose, and it wasn't the people screaming around her. It was the curiosity of why this was so amusing for the Doctor.

Was he fascinated with the plastic's persistence as she was? She was terrified of it, but she had to admit the fact that Plastic Mickey was still up and moving without a head to send signals to the body was impressive if a little terrifying. (Though it did show that her puppet theory had some merit. Someone else was pulling the strings.)

Was he insane? It was possible, but at the same time she wasn't sure that was quite the cause. He might be a bit insane, but she didn't think that he was the type to laugh at causing havoc.

The sound of the fire alarm snapped her from her thoughts and she turned to see Rose beside it and shouting for everyone to get out of the pizzeria. This was all she had time to notice however before her hand was suddenly grabbed and she was pulled into a run. A gasp escaped her lips and she looked forward to see that the Doctor was the one who had grabbed her and they were now running after Rose, the head tucked under the Doctor's arm as plastic Mickey's body followed after them, wrecking everything in it's path.

Phoenix sped up and let the Doctor lead her through the kitchens and down a long hallway, until they were closing a large metal door behind them, the Doctor pulling out his tube thing and pointing it at the lock. Phoenix grimaced at the head that was still in the Doctor's arms before she turned to watch Rose run off down the alley, ignoring the slight chill from the evening air. She would've gone after the blonde, but she stopped short when she saw the police box from earlier. How could it be here? She wondered, taking a few steps towards it as the buzzing continued behind her. How could any of this be happening? Over the course of twenty four hours reality had turned upside down and she didn't know how or why. So, what did she know? Why was she focusing on everything she didn't? After all the things she did know would possibly help her untangle the mess...right?

"Open the gate! Use that tube thing." Rose's voice made her startle, bringing her out of her thought's, but she couldn't bring herself to turn to the blonde.

What if the box disappeared again? Sane people would want that to happen. They would think they were dreaming, but then again she'd never claimed to be sane. She wasn't like other people. She always found herself in situations where she just _had_ to find the answers, _had_ to make sense of it. It would probably be safer to let it go if plastic Mickey was any indicator of that. She'd nearly been killed three times now since peeking under the veil of whatever this new world was - four if she counted Mickey's driving - and yet she wasn't entirely sure that she wanted to drop the veil and run back to safety. She wanted to rip the veil away.

She vaguely heard the Doctor refer to the tube thing as a sonic screwdriver and invite them to join him as he walked over to the police box, but still she couldn't move or tear her eyes away from the box though she wasn't really seeing the brilliant blue anymore. She was too wrapped up in her thoughts, she barely even registered the thudding as plastic Mickey's body pounded at the locked door.

She knew that this was the deciding moment and it could most certainly change her entire life depending on what she chose to do. She could walk away or she could follow the Doctor into that box. Most people would probably just think that they could just walk away after they'd followed the Doctor, who was most definitely going to lead them to safety if her judge of his character was accurate thus far, but she knew - she didn't know how she knew, but she did - she KNEW that whatever was behind those blue doors would awaken her need to find answers more then anything else ever had. She wouldn't be able to walk away. She knew it as certainly as she knew the sun was going to rise again tomorrow, knew it as certainly as she'd known the Doctor was telling the truth that morning. The question was...was that something she was willing to let go of?

Was she willing to let go of the veil of ignorance that had kept her safe for the last eighteen years of her life? But how much of that veil was still there, anyways? How much had survived these past six months? Was there really enough to let her forget all that had happened the past two days?

The answer was no. Knowledge could build nations, win wars, and save millions. Ignorance was just a shield that more often than not let you down and got you killed. There really wasn't a choice between the two so, she took a deep breath and stepped into the blue police box, ripping the few pieces of the veil that was left, off of the world.

 **So there you go! I hope you all like it and I would much appreciate your reviews and ideas! What was your favorite part? What are you looking forward to? These are things I really would LOVE to know. I'm really happy with how this is turning out and I hope you guys are enjoying it as much as I am. Again, review please?**


	4. The Adventure Begins

**Hey, sorry that I haven't been updating. I got sick and swamped with so much homework it's not even funny. But I'm back! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, I'm a little iffy on it personally but I also couldn't figure out what else to do with it and I really wanted to update for you guys so...Also, I will be starting a Twilight and possibly Teen Wolf fanfiction at some point though I will try to at least finish this episode before uploading those. Anyways, this is keeping you from reading so I shall say adieu!**

"It's beautiful..." She breathed, her eyes wide in wonder as she gazed at the massive control room. Or she was assuming it was the control room due to the large circular panel in the center with several levers and buttons on it.

The entire room was supported by six coral pillars arranged in a hexagonal pattern meeting with the top of a tube thing that went straight up to the ceiling. There were also several black wires connected to it. The walls were golden with small, hexagonal impressions on them. There was a monitor on the console that had some strange writing on it and several sticky notes, which Phoenix assumed had been left by the Doctor. It was also dim due to the green glow from the tube thing and the lights in the hexagons on the walls. All in all it was very alien and the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen in her life. It might seem silly that she was calling a machine beautiful, but there was no other word to describe it.

After letting her gaze wander the room for a moment more, Phoenix returned her gaze to the control panel, smiling wider as she bounced over to it. Hesitantly, she looked up at the Doctor, her eyebrows raised as she let her hand hover over the panel, silently asking for permission. He beamed at her and taking that as a yes, she let her fingers trail over the controls, not expecting the soft hum that followed after. She looked quickly over at the Doctor to make sure she hadn't done anything wrong, but his smile only grew wider.

The Doctor watched her as she marveled over the Tardis, jumping a little as his ship hummed at the attention she was receiving. This certainly wasn't how he had expected the girl to react. She didn't seem at all phased by the size difference or over what had just happened in the pizzeria. Enigma was definitely the correct word to describe her at the moment.

"How did you get the outside around the inside? You aren't a wizard, are you?" Her voice snapped him from his thoughts and he looked at her as she continued to examine the controls of the Tardis.

"Why would you think I was a wizard?"

"Well, in the Goblet of Fire in the Harry Potter series there's a tent that's smaller on the outside. It's sort of the same concept here." Phoenix murmured, looking up at him before hesitantly resting a hand on the time rotor.

Both of their heads snapped over to Rose as she hurried into the box."It's gonna follow us."

A wave of guilt crashed into Phoenix and she slowly went to stand beside Rose. She'd gotten so caught up in the Tardis that she'd forgotten all about the blonde and the danger they were in. She could've lost Rose because she hadn't cared enough to pay attention. The thought made her feel sick and she had to lean against the railing to keep herself standing as her knees threatened to give out. She was so stupid and reckless and irresponsible. Just like she'd been last Christmas.

"-Believe me, they've tried." She looked up as the Doctor's voice filtered through to her and she saw that he was sonicing Mickey's head. "Now shut up a minute." Phoenix glanced over to Rose who looked close to hysterical, but the Doctor didn't seem to notice as he just continued to talk while plugging Mickey's head into the console. "You see, the arm was too simple, but the head's perfect. I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source."

Phoenix watched him carefully, a little disturbed by the sight of Mickey's head plugged into several wires. However, she was starting to calm down as she listened to the Doctor explain the situation. He may know what was controlling them, but he obviously didn't know where it was so he couldn't be siding with whoever or whatever it was.

"Right. Where do you want to start?" He asked, turning to the two of them and tucking his hands into his coat pockets.

"Um..." The blonde started, her eyes roving around the large room. "...the inside's bigger than the outside?"

"Yes."

"It's alien."

"Yeah."

Phoenix turned to the Doctor, a little nervous now. She knew where this was going and it was something that she hadn't wanted to think about yet. She wasn't sure how she would react. The concept was so foreign there was no way she could control or anticipate any reaction she might have. But it needed to be addressed so she quickly opened her mouth and asked the question before Rose could. "Are you alien?"

He was silent for a moment as he watched her. He wished he knew how she would react, but he couldn't even ballpark it with her. All he could do was hope she didn't run screaming. She understood and he'd felt a little less alone when he was speaking with her earlier that day, which was why he needed to be honest. The two humans in front of him had already proven that they could handle the truth. Or at least he hoped they could handle it so he opened his mouth and spoke, cringing inwardly at the slight waver in his voice.

"Yes." He answered, his eyes carefully blank, but Phoenix was sure she'd heard something in his tone, something she couldn't quite place. She opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it when no speech presented itself to her. Worry flashed in his eyes and he spoke quickly. "Is that all right?"

"Yeah." Rose answered immediately and the Doctor glanced at her before looking at Phoenix who still hadn't responded.

She wasn't sure how she felt about it. Did it really matter that he wasn't human? He looked human, acted human for the most part, and he hadn't done anything to hurt her or threaten earth like all the movies suggested aliens would do. He was proof that she wasn't living in an empty universe and that not all aliens were bad as the movies tended to lead people to believe. It didn't affect her that he was an alien and she had already stepped through the door, hadn't she? She had known that that would be her turning point. Now she had to deal with it. She could feel Rose's eyes on her and she quickly glanced at her before returning her gaze to the Doctor with a small smile. "You aren't planning to start a price war, are you?"

He chuckled. "No worries there. Your shops are safe from me."

"Then yeah...it's alright." Her smile grew a little and she listened intently as the alien before her started speaking again.

"It's called the Tardis, this thing. T-A-R-D-I-S. That's Time And Relative Dimension In Space." He was far more relaxed now that he wasn't about to lose the one person who seemed to understand him, even the slightest bit after everything he'd so recently lost. Phoenix whipped around when she heard a sob come from Rose and without thinking about it, she hurried to the girl's side, pulling her into a hug, vaguely hearing the Doctor's comment on culture shock.

"Did they kill him? Mickey." Rose wondered, trying to pull herself together while pulling away from Phoenix, though Phoenix could've sworn that she'd hugged her back for a second there. She was probably just imagining it. "Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?"

"Oh." The Doctor murmured, his brow furrowing. "I didn't think of that."

"He's my boyfriend. You pulled off his head. They copied him and you didn't even think?" Rose nearly shouted at him. "And now you're just going to let him melt?"

Phoenix glanced at the console where Mickey's head was to see that he was in fact melting. The Doctor, also noticing this hurried over and exclaimed in panic and frustration. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no!"

Phoenix watched as he ran around the console flipping switches and hitting buttons.

"What're you doing?" Rose demanded, her eyes still full of anger and tears.

"Following the signal. It's fading." The Doctor answered, still flipping levers. After a moment the entire room started to shake and Phoenix instinctively gripped onto the rail beside her. "Wait a minute, I've got it."

As the shaking slowed, the Doctor took off running for the doors, dashing past Rose and Phoenix. Phoenix turned and ran after him, Rose calling after them. "You can't go out there. It's not safe."

Phoenix found herself right beside the Thames and it took her a moment to reorient herself. She'd already known the Tardis could move, but knowing and seeing were two very different things. It was like walking into your flat and finding everything rearranged, but on a larger scale.

"I lost the signal." The Doctor muttered, tossing a glance over his shoulder. "I was _so_ close."

"We've moved." Rose murmured from behind Phoenix. Her tone conveyed her shock and Phoenix had to admit, she was justified to be shocked.

They'd already dealt with plastic dummies attacking them, spoken to a guy who claimed that aliens were real, - which they were but still - dealt with creepy Mickey who turned out to be plastic, and now alien existence had been confirmed. The change of location only proved it more, so yeah. She had a right to be shocked by all the strangeness that had been dumped on them in the last not even forty eight hours. Phoenix snapped back to the conversation as she heard a mention of the headless Mickey.

"It's still on the loose." Rose murmured, eyes still wide.

"Melted with the head. Are you gonna witter on all night?" The Doctor demanded, his tone full of irritation. Phoenix raised her eyebrows at this. Yes, they'd lost the signal, but that didn't mean he had to be rude. Then again, he had said that the dummies or rather whoever was controlling the dummies wanted to invade the earth, so maybe he was justified too.

"I'll have to tell his mother." Rose murmured, running a hand through her hair. The Doctor just looked at her with confusion. "Mickey. I'll have to tell his mother he's dead, and you just went and forgot him, again! You were right, you _are_ alien."

Phoenix looked between the two of them, the Doctor a little aggravated and possibly hurt and Rose furiously glaring at both the Doctor and Phoenix. Phoenix held the blonde's gaze for a moment before she turned away from her, pulling her hair out of it's braid. With everything that had happened, she hadn't managed to grab any tylenol for her head and now she was being reminded very strongly that she had hit her head very hard last night.

"Look, if I did forget some kid called Mickey-"

"-Yeah, he's not a kid!-

"-It's because I'm busy trying to save the life of every STUPID ape blundering about on top of this planet, all right?" He demanded angrily.

"'All right'?!" Rose shouted in disbelief.

"Yes, it is!" The Doctor shouted back with as much anger before crossing his arms and looking away from the blonde.

Phoenix understood more then a lot of people how Rose was feeling, but she also knew what was at stake here and whether or not Mickey was still alive or not, wasn't as important at the moment. Billions of lives were at risk.

Rose shook her head before stepping forward, her eyes narrowing accusingly. "If you _are_ an alien, how comes you sound like you're from the north?"

"Lots of planets have a north." The Doctor protested. Phoenix shifted on her feet and tugged on a strand of her hair.

"What's a...police public call box?" Rose wondered, glancing at the Tardis.

"It's a telephone box from the 1950's." Phoenix responded, hoping to disperse the tension. It took her a moment to realize that the Doctor had said the sentence with her.

She glanced at him to see that he'd relaxed his stiff posture and was now grinning as he caressed the Tardis before he continued with his explanation. "It's a disguise."

Phoenix couldn't help but chuckle at the Doctor's sudden excitement and joy. "Okay. So, what do the living plastic have against us? You never said."

"Nothing. It loves you. You've got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air, perfect." He answered, ambling closer to her before leaning against the Tardis. "Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. It's food stock was destroyed in the war, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth, dinner!"

"And the Nestene Consciousness would be the brain sending the signals to the plastic?" She checked, looking up at him. He nodded with a smile.

"Any way of stoppin' it?" Rose inquired, coming to stand beside them.

The Doctor pulled a vile of thick, dark blue liquid out of his jacket pocket and showed it to them with a large grin. "Anti-plastic."

"That's it?" Phoenix demanded, frowning at the Doctor. "We're just going to kill it?"

"No, I'm gonna talk to it first. This is just for insurance."

"But if eats pollution, couldn't it help us? We could let it stay and coexist with us and it could eat all of the stuff that's killing the planet. Couldn't it?" Phoenix wondered, grimacing at the anti-plastic.

The Doctor stared at her, stunned. She was truly amazing. All she really knew about the Nestene Consciousness was that it was trying to invade her planet because it's planet was gone and instead of feeling threatened, she was trying to negotiate a peace treaty. Sadly, however, it wouldn't work. "Fantastic idea...but you humans use a lot of plastic. It's plastic nature would overwhelm you and everyone on both sides would die."

Phoenix's expression became saddened as she stared at the liquid in the vial, but she nodded. He was right. Of course, he was. "So, anti-plastic for insurance then."

"But first I've got to find it. How can you hide something that big in a city this small?" He wondered as he walked past the two of them.

"Hold on. Hide what?" Rose asked.

"The transmitter." He told them as if it were obvious before walking back over to them. "The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic, so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal."

"What's it look like?"

"Like a transmitter-" He said, causing Phoenix to roll her eyes at him. Helpful. She followed him over past the Tardis and a column. "Round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London. A huge circular metal structure like a dish, like a wheel." Phoenix and Rose both stopped and stared up as the Doctor continued speaking. "Radial. Close to where we're standing. Must be completely invisible. What?" Phoenix nodded behind him and he turned. She thought he would get it right away, but he seemed just as confused when he turned back. "What?" She saw Rose nod in the direction of the London eye and watched as he turned again. "What is it? What?"

Phoenix couldn't stop the small smile that formed on her face as she walked over and turned him around before pointing at the wheel. Comprehension dawned on his face and he looked at her. "Oh." He glanced at the Eye again before turning to her, a large grin forming on his face. "Fantastic!"

He grabbed both hers and Rose's hands and started running. They probably looked a bit strange, honestly. All of them running in clothes that were definitely not running clothes with large grins on their faces. Something told her that this was a regular occurrence for the Doctor.

 ***There you go! Hope you guys like it and continue to share your thoughts with me!**


	5. The Nestene Consciousness

**I apologize for not updating, my life has been so busy, but here you guys go. New chapter though its not as long as I'd like it to be. Enjoy!**

"Think of it, plastic all over the world, every artificial thing waiting to come alive." The Doctor said, not even winded as they came to a stop. "The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables."

Phoenix caught her breath as Rose mentioned breast implants and nodded at her. "Just shows that you shouldn't change your body surgically. Never know what might happen."

"Still, we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath."

Rose turned and hurried off, stopping by a parapet. "What about down here?"

The Doctor and Phoenix hurried over and peered down to see a large manhole entrance at the bottom of some steps. Rose looked at her former friend with smugness when the Doctor grinned and spoke. "Looks good to me."

They sprinted down the steps, the Doctor crouching down and opening the heavy door as soon as they were at the bottom of the stairs. Phoenix stepped back as hot steam rose out of the hole that had a reddish light inside it. She had to wonder if that was normal.

The Doctor went down first, slowly descending down the ladder and looking around before moving so Phoenix and Rose could follow him.

Phoenix looked around carefully once she'd hopped off of the ladder, moving to stand by the Doctor. He stood by a heavy metal door and glanced at Rose and herself with cautioning eyes. She nodded to show she understood to be quiet before starting a little when a hand slipped into hers. A glance down showed that it was Rose's.

The Doctor pushed the door open and led them into a large room with metal staircases and railings everywhere. Phoenix and Rose slowly followed the blue eye'd alien they'd befriended down some stairs where he stared down into the multi-level chamber. Phoenix's eyes widened when she looked down.

Not only was it extremely high off of the ground, but there was also a large goopy thing churning around in what looked like a giant pothole. The surprising thing was how not frightened she was of it. She should be terrified and there was a small spark of fear but for the most part she was fascinated. She'd now met two aliens. How often did someone get to say that?

"The Nestene Consciousness. That's it, inside the vat," the Doctor said, pointing to the large mass of orange goop. "A living plastic creature."

"Well, then. Tip in your anti-plastic and let's go." Rose insisted, her tone full of fear and anger. She must still think it killed Mickey, Phoenix realized, glancing at the girl.

"I'm not here to kill it." He said firmly, glancing at her and back to the Nestene Consciousness. "I've got to give it a chance."

He walked down to a catwalk and Phoenix hurried after, standing back as he leaned on the railing, overlooking the seething vat. "I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract according to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation."

Phoenix tilted her head in curiosity for a moment before turning to the goop in the vat, biting her lip. The Consciousness flexed quickly and for whatever reason Phoenix was sure that it was answering the Doctor as loud growling noises sounded through the chamber.

"Thank you." The Doctor smiled a little before continuing. "If I might have permission to approach?"

"Oh, God!" Rose exclaimed, sprinting down the steps to a lower level.

"Rose, wait!" Phoenix called, staring at the Doctor with concern, but his annoyed expression quickly put her at ease. Rose wasn't going to come to any harm due to overstepping boundaries. After all, the Doctor had asked to approach, but maybe that was just a polite thing to do.

"Mickey, it's me! It's okay. It's all right." Rose muttered reassurances, bending down beside a very frightened Mickey. "Doctor, they kept him alive."

"Yeah, that was always a possibility. Keep him alive to maintain the copy."

"You knew that and you never said?" Rose snapped, her anger coming back full force.

"Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you?" The Doctor said annoyed as he headed down some stairs to the lowest level that looked out on the Nestene. Phoenix wanted to follow him, if only to get a closer look at the Nestene, but she'd already forgotten the blonde once and this was not the type of situation where mistakes would be okay. One mistake and she could lose the person she still considered her sister. Lose her forever.

"Am I addressing the Consciousness?" The Consciousness growled and flexed. "Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilisation by means of warp shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?"

The Doctor grinned at his pun, staring down at the consciousness as it formed a face, growling loudly.

"Oh, don't give me that. It's an invasion, plain and simple. Don't talk about constitutional rights." The Doctor said. The Consciousness loudly interupted.

"I am talking!" The Doctor said, angrily raising his voice. Phoenix glanced at him before looking back to the creature in the vat as the Doctor continued negotiating. "This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf. Please, just go."

As he spoke to dummies approached him from behind.

"Look out!" Phoenix cried, leaning forward on the railing as Rose came to stand beside her. Her warning had been too late as the dummies quickly grabbed one of the Doctor's arms each, one removing the anti-plastic from his jacket pocket before letting the other dummie hold the Doctor back with surprising strength. Phoenix felt panic flood her. What if they hurt him? They would have no way out, the world would be doomed, and worst of all, it seemed the Doctor would be the first to go if the consciousness won.

"That was just insurance. I wasn't going to use it." The Doctor insisted as the dummy showed the anti-plastic to the Nestene, who was growling very angrily. "I was not attacking you. I'm here to help. I'm not your enemy. I swear, I'm not." The Nestene answered with a growl. "What do you mean?"

Phoenix's head snapped up and to the side as a large door was pulled open, revealing the Tardis behind it. If she could get Rose and Mickey in there then there might be a chance for them. Hadn't the Doctor said something about things not being able to get through? They would be safe in theory. But what about the Doctor? The dummies had him held firmly and it didn't look like he was getting loose anytime soon.

"No. Oh, no. Honestly, no." He paused as the Nestene gave a short growl. "Yes, that's my ship."

When the Nestene answered it's growls sounded angrier, furious and Phoenix found herself even more curious to know what it was actually saying.

"That's not true. I should know, I was there. I fought in the war. It wasn't my fault. I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them!" The Doctor protested, his voice becoming pained and grief filled near the end.

"What's it doing?!" Rose called, her expression terrified. Phoenix glanced at the girl, but suppressed the urge to hug her since the girl seemed to resist any form of comfort Phoenix would offer. The time at Henrick's was most likely just a fluke.

"It's the Tardis! The Nestene's identified its superior technology. It's terrified. It's going to the final phase." The Doctor called up to them, still struggling against the mannequin that was holding him. "It's starting the invasion! Get out, Phoenix! Rose! Just leg it now!"

Rose turned away from the railing and pulled out her mobile. The vat was still roaring angrily...or was it triumphantly now? Phoenix shook her head clear of stray thoughts and headed over to the Tardis. She grabbed the handles and pushed, struggling to get them to move, but they were stuck fast. Locked. Now what was she going to do?

"Mum? Mum?!" Rose called down the phone and Phoenix felt her throat constrict and her heart to tighten painfully, longing welling up in her. How she wished she could be calling her mother, making sure she was safe. She was scared. Terrified really and there was nothing she wanted more than to call her mother and get reassurance or comfort. That was forever lost to her though.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when large bolts of energy suddenly started flying up from the Consciousness. Was it starting the invasion then?

"It's the activation signal. It's transmitting!" The Doctor called up a worried explanation.

"It's the end of the world." Rose muttered, her voice shaking with terror.

The Consciousness roared loudly, breaking Phoenix from her frozen position. She hurried over to Rose's side, looking around for a way to help the Doctor as Rose and Mickey headed for the Tardis.

"Get out, Phoenix! Just get out! Run!" The Doctor ordered desperately as he continued to struggle against the dummies that were trying to push him into the vat that the Nestene resided in.

"We can't just leave you!" She protested. "Besides, we don't have the key!"

The Doctor twisted around to look at her and she briefly met his gaze before her eyes turned from his to the Nestene as he started struggling again. Briefly she heard gargled words coming from the Consciousness, but she couldn't be sure if she'd heard right. It sounded like it'd said 'Time Lord', but she wasn't sure what that even was besides the obvious so she dismissed it, instead focusing on figuring a way out of this mess.

Looking back at the Doctor, she took a deep breath running to the side, calling back for Rose to stay put as she headed further through the chamber she was in. As she was running, her eyes looked around wildly, searching for something that could help. Her eyes landed on a long chain that was hanging down from the ceiling.

Phoenix quickly grabbed the cold metal, getting a good grip on it before running and jumping off the catwalk. For a second she felt weightless and her stomach lurched uncomfortably. As she passed the dummies, she kicked out at them, knocking them over the edge with the anti-plastic.

"Phoenix!" The Doctor called, getting ready to catch her. As she swung back, she felt her stomach lurch again as her hands began to slip from the chain, but soon the Doctor had caught her around the waist and steadied her.

"Now we're in trouble." He said, beaming at her before grabbing her hand and leading her up to the Tardis where he quickly slid the key into the lock and let her, Mickey, Rose and himself in. Once inside he hurried around the console, flipping levers and pressing buttons to send them off.

As soon as they'd landed Mickey went running out the doors with Rose following after him. Phoenix and the Doctor came last, Phoenix actually stepping out of the Tardis while the Doctor leaned against the doorway. Rose briefly called her mother while Mickey crouched beside some wooden boards.

"Nestene Consciousness?" The Doctor snapped his fingers. "Easy."

"You'd be dead if it wasn't for me." Phoenix said, looking at the Doctor with a small smile as she realized that she'd actually managed to help someone one rather than destroy them.

"Yes, I would. Thank you." He said with a soft smile. She nodded in acknowledgement as her smile grew. "Right then, I'll be off." He paused and she felt her face fall a little. "unless, er, I don't know," he shrugged as she listened intently. "You could come with me. This box isn't just a London hopper, you know. It goes anywhere in the universe free of charge."

"Don't." Mickey protested, clinging onto Rose. "He's an alien. He's a thing."

"He's not invited. What do you think?" At her hesitance, he continued. "You could stay here, fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go, uh, anywhere." The Doctor stated, looking between her and Rose.

"Is it always this dangerous?" Rose asked and Phoenix turned to look at her.

"Yeah." He nodded with a smile.

Phoenix slowly turned to the Doctor, already hating what her decision had to be. "Yeah, I can't. I need to, um, go find my Dad, and, Triton will need me."

The Doctor was silent and for a second he looked truly upset and lonely. "Okay. See you around."

Phoenix did want to go, more than anything, but what would happen here? Owen would be worried, her Dad would be upset with her for running off, and she wouldn't be able to visit her mother's grave everyday. It wasn't something she was ready to give up. Nothing would ever be the same for her, but there were people who needed her. The time just wasn't right for traveling. She opened her mouth to apologize as the Doctor walked back into the Tardis, closing the doors.

He'd really thought that she'd accept, but he couldn't force her. It didn't make it hurt any less as the loneliness washed over him. He'd opened himself up, hoping she'd come along and fill that hole, offer companionship, but he'd thought wrong apparently. He'd overestimated himself.

Guilt crashed over Phoenix and she turned to leave, wanting to go home and curl up in bed, maybe have a good cry. That was it. He was gone forever. As she started down the street, she heard the sound of the Tardis rematerializing and she quickly turned around.

The Doctor poked his head out and looked at her and Rose. "By the way, did I mention it also travels in time?"

Just like that all her reasons for staying disappeared and she beamed at the Doctor who stepped back inside, leaving the door open. She glanced back at Rose who was speaking quietly to Mickey before she hurried over to the Tardis and stepped inside. "Thank you for letting me come with you, Doctor. I'm really happy that I can come."

"Me too."

A second later Rose came running in and with a giant grin, the Doctor closed the door and hurried around the console, sending them off.

 **Thanks for all the reviews, guys! I really love hearing from you all and I hope you liked this chapter!**


	6. Psychic Paper and Cassandra

**Look who actually updated. I'm so sorry that I haven't done so in a while. I've had a lot happen and I lost inspiration due to it, but here you go and I will hopefully have the chapter after this up in a couple of days to make up for the long wait. Thank you so much for the patience and the reviews guys! :)**

"Right then, Phoenix Smith, Rose Tyler, you tell me. Where do you want to go?" The Doctor leaned against the console, his eyes alight with excitement. "Backwards or forwards in time. It's your choice. What's it going to be?"

The choices were literally endless. Anywhere or when she wanted. Phoenix beamed at the Doctor, excitement rising in her for the first time in a long time. She already knew exactly where she wanted to go. However, just as she was opening her mouth to express her idea, Rose beat her to it. "Forwards."

The Doctor glanced to Phoenix for confirmation and though that had been the opposite of the answer that Phoenix was going to choose, she smiled. "Forwards sounds good."

The Doctor reached over and slowly flipped two toggle switches before looking back up at them. "How far?"

Phoenix looked to Rose who seemed a little overwhelmed by her options. After a moment's hesitation, the blonde answered the first thing that popped into her head. "One hundred years."

With a spin of a wheel, a pull of a lever and a twist of a knob, the Tardis was shaking around and Phoenix quickly grabbed onto the console to remain steady.

The Doctor twisted the knob again and they came to a stop. "There you go. Step outside those doors, it's the twenty second century."

"You're kidding. " Rose said, disbelief coloring her tone. Phoenix glanced over to the doors, bouncing on the balls of her feet a little as her excitement grew. She was currently in a future time period!

"That's a bit boring, though." The Doctor commented before leveling his gaze on the two of them. "Do you want to go further?"

"Fine by me." Rose flirted, not sparing Phoenix a glance. Phoenix found that she would love to explore whatever was outside those doors but at the same time she really didn't care what she saw. She suspected that all of it would be amazing.

The Doctor spun the wheel again and twisted the knob, sending them rattling around again. He grinned widely at her before twisting the knob again and bringing them to a stop. "Ten thousand years in the future. Step outside, it's the year 12005, the new Roman Empire."

Phoenix eagerly turned to look at the door, barely able to contain herself from jumping up and down.

"You think you're so impressive." Rose said, smiling and shaking her head at the Doctor.

"I am so impressive." The Doctor protested, looking offended. Phoenix turned back to them with a giant smile.

"You wish." Rose said, still smiling.

"Right then, you asked for it." The Doctor stated, pointing a finger at Rose while beaming. "I know exactly where to go." Then he proceeded to spin the wheel thing more times then he had at any other point in time. "Hold on!" The Tardis started to move again as the Doctor pumped a lever repeatedly.

Phoenix held on as the ride got bumpier. After about a minute of being shook around, the Doctor pulled a lever, twisted the knob and rung the little bell, bringing them to a stop.

This time the Doctor didn't give any explanation, just smiling at the two of them. Phoenix glanced at the doors. "Where are we?"

He motioned to the door, holding his arm out as an invitation to proceed through it. Phoenix grinned before turning and running towards the door, vaguely hearing Rose question about what they would find on the other side of the door. She didn't even glance back as she hurried out of the Tardis, but once she was outside she came to a quick halt.

They'd arrived...well, they'd arrived somewhere. The walls were a warm cream color and looked like they were tiles but boards as well. Carefully, she looked around, to her right there was what appeared to be some sort of door and next to it was a pad of some sort. Maybe a hand pad? It could be some form of control system for the door.

Ahead of her there were some flights of stairs that led to a single metal shutter that was set into the wall. She nearly sprinted down the stairs to go examine it. Everything was so different, though it made sense that it would be. By this point the human race should have expanded and advanced far beyond what anyone could imagine in her time.

Carefully, she ran a hand over the metal and couldn't help the excited smile as she realized she was touching a wall that was from the future. It would probably seem very strange if anyone saw that she was so excited about a wall, but to her it wasn't just a wall. It was a wall that was however many years in her future. She shouldn't be able to be touching this wall, let alone seeing it. It was prove that time travel was possible, that amazing things really did exist.

She glanced behind her as the sound of footsteps sounded on the stairs. Rose was looking around in awe while the Doctor went over to the pad by the door and used his sonic on it. When the shutter began to move beneath her hand, she quickly pulled her hand away as she turned back to watch the metal descend down, revealing a window. Seeing that a bright glow was beginning to shine into the room, Phoenix's smile grew even wider and she began bouncing impatiently on the balls of her feet. The view that awaited her when the shutter had completely descended had her breath catching in wonder.

It was beautiful. Far more beautiful than she ever could've imagined. She was looking at the planet Earth. She barely noticed when Rose and the Doctor came to stand beside her, the Doctor on her left side with his arms crossed and Rose on her other side with the same look of amazement that Phoenix was sure she herself was wearing.

"You lot, you spend all your time thinking about dying, like you're going to get killed by eggs or beef or global warming or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible, that maybe you survive." The Doctor's voice was soft as he explained where they were. "This is the year five point five slash apple slash twenty six. Five billion years in your future, and this is the day...hold on..."

Phoenix finally pulled her eyes away from the sight of the planet to see the Doctor looking at his wrist watch. Only she found that it wasn't a regular wrist watch at all. It had far more numbers that she was used to seeing on a watch and some strange symbols she'd never seen anywhere before.

As the light that was streaming through the window from the sun grew much brighter, Phoenix turned back to look. The Sun was far bigger than it should be, she realized with shock. It was huge!

"This is the day the Sun expands." The Doctor said before turning to look at her and continuing in a soft voice. "Welcome to the end of the world."

"It's...amazing." She murmured, looking back out at the view. This was the type of thing that her mother had always had a passion for. She loved planets and technology which was part of the reason that Phoenix had ever gotten into the subjects herself. Phoenix's bedtime stories had often been about a woman journeying through space, seeing planets and aliens and all sorts of things. The thought caused a pang in her chest and Phoenix quickly dropped her gaze from the view of the Earth.

Just as she was trying to figure out what to say a computerized voice sounded through the room and probably the entire ship. "Shuttles five and six now docking. Guests are reminded that Platform One forbids the use of weapons, teleportation and religion. Earth Death is scheduled for fifteen thirty nine, followed by drinks in the Manchester Suite."

"Come on, then." The Doctor said brightly before heading up the stairs and leading them into a long corridor.

"So, when it says guests, does that mean people?" Rose asked as they turned a corner. The other corridor had pretty much blank walls, but this one had some large goblet looking things and Phoenix found herself falling behind a little as she moved closer to examine them. They appeared to be gold and were each detailed with varying methods. They were very beautiful.

"Depends what you mean by people." The Doctor responded to Rose while glancing back at Phoenix and smiling a little at her excitement.

"I mean people. What do you mean?" Rose inquired as Phoenix hurried over to the Doctor's side, looking like she was ready to ask a question of her own.

"Aliens." The Doctor's tone was matter-of-fact as they turned yet another question.

Phoenix opened her mouth to ask something, but was quickly closing it again as Rose hurried to speak before she could. "What are they doing on board this spaceship? What's it all for?"

The Doctor stopped and explained as he pulled out his sonic and began scanning a panel on the wall. "It's not really a spaceship, more like an observation deck. The great and the good are gathering to watch the planet burn."

"What for?" Rose wondered.

"Fun." He stated before heading off. Phoenix hurried after him. She found herself in a much larger room that had a glass ceiling that revealed the space around them. Faltering in her steps, she continued to gaze up at the starts while the Doctor explained that "the great and the good" were actually the rich before explaining to Rose about some National Trust that preserved the sun. Basically holding it back.

"So, you can actually _own_ a planet in this age?" Phoenix wondered, catching up to them and looking over to the Doctor. "Why would someone do that?"

"Money. You keep it preserved, let people pay to come see it. It's like a museum." He replied.

"The planet looks the same as ever." Rose interjected, shooting a glare at Phoenix from behind the Doctor. "I thought the continents shifted and things."

"They did, and the Trust shifted them back." The Doctor explained, clasping his hands behind his back as they came to a stop beside a window that was overlooking the Earth. "That's a classic Earth. But now the money's run out, nature takes over."

"How long's it got?" The blonde wondered, glancing up at the Doctor.

He quickly looked at his watch. "About half an hour and then the planet gets roasted."

He sounded so enthusiastic about it, Phoenix observed, glancing over at him as he continued to watch the planet. Was it simply because it was amazing to be able to bear witness to the planet's passing?

"Is that why we're here?" At the Doctor's confused expression Rose elaborated. "I mean, is that what you do? Jump in at the last minute and save the Earth?"

He turned to her with a small smile. "I'm not saving it. Time's up."

"But what about the people?" Rose demanded, a hint of anger in her voice.

"It's empty. They're all gone. No one left." The Doctor explained, turning back to the window.

"Just us, then." Rose murmured, also turning her gaze to the planet.

"Would you be saving it if there were people down there?" Phoenix wondered, glancing up at him as she leaned against the wall.

"Course he would. Why would you even ask that?" Rose snapped, glaring at her. "He wouldn't just let 'em all die."

"It was just a question." Phoenix murmured, dropping her gaze to her feet and pushing the hurt down. Even when they were experiencing something so amazing, Rose couldn't help but be quick to be angry with her. Now she really did have to wonder what she'd ever done wrong.

"Who the hell are you?" A voice called suddenly and Phoenix whirled around to see what she assumed was a man with blue skin and golden eyes that were slit like a cat's. He had some strange markings under each eye and on his forehead. The ones on his forehead framed a gem that was set on his head. Once Phoenix had laid eyes on the gem on the man's head, it was hard for her to look away. It was an entirely new shade of blue and it was wonderful. It was almost translucent and yet a very deep shade while being very light at the same time.

"Oh, that's nice, thanks." The Doctor responded sarcastically.

The man seemed very worried as he stared at the three of them with astonishment.

"But how did you get in? This is a maximum hospitality zone. The guests have disembarked. They're on their way any second now-"

"That's me." The Doctor interrupted, pulling something out of his pocket that appeared to be a small leather notebook that flipped open. "I'm a guest. Look, I've got an invitation. Look. There, you see? It's fine, you see? The Doctor plus one. I'm the Doctor, this is Rose Tyler. She's my plus one. Is that all right?"

Phoenix frowned when he failed to mention her. Was he hoping this man would simply overlook her?

"Well, obviously. Apologies, et cetera." The man said, seeming a little embarrassed before he turned to her. "I apologize, but if you are a guest I must also see your invitation."

"Oh, this is our friend." The Doctor stated, beaming happily as he reached out and looped an arm around her waist, pulling her into his side. "Go ahead, Phoenix, show him your invitation so we can get on with our stay."

As he was speaking, she felt him slip something into her back left pocket. She nodded to the blue man. "Of course."

Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the item the Doctor had placed there and saw that it was the little notebook thing he'd just used. Unsure of how to use it, she flipped it open and showed it to the man. On the outside, she was smiling gently, but on the inside she was panicking. This was never going to work! The Doctor was having her show the man a sheet of blank paper.

"Oh, dear. I'm terribly sorry, you're Highness." And then he bowed a tiny bit. "I did not mean any offence and I will personally send a letter of apology to your father and the court."

"That's alright." She murmured, very unsure of what was happening. Even the Doctor looked confused. Thinking it wouldn't be good if he sent a letter and made her out to be an impostor of royalty she continued. "No offense was taken. One must be sure of those on their vessel. Don't worry about the letter since no apology is necessary either. I'm hardly in my everyday dress. In fact, I would much prefer you not make a big deal of my arrival. I've decided to take a small vacation with my friends and simply relax. My greatest thanks."

"Of course, you're Highness. If you're on board, we'd better start. Enjoy." With that he left to go deal with whatever it is he dealt with.

Once he was out of earshot, Phoenix turned to the Doctor with wide eyes. "What just happened? What exactly does this thing do?"

He took the notepad from her and looked at it with confusion. That quickly morphed to surprise and he looked up at her. "The paper's slightly psychic. It shows them whatever I want them to see. Saves a lot of time. What were you thinking about when you used it?"

"I was thinking that it was blank and wasn't going to work. What does it say?" She wondered, peering at it with interest.

"It says that you're the Princess of Wreothen. Interesting." The Doctor glanced up at her and for a moment she thought she saw suspicion in his eyes but it quickly cleared and he smiled at her, tucking the psychic paper into his pocket. "Anyways, I think you handled it fairly well. Well done."

"He's blue." Rose murmured from beside the Doctor, watching the man.

"Yeah." The Doctor responded, beaming as he clasped his hands behind his back again and looked forward.

"Okay." Rose murmured, taking it in stride as she turned to watch the guests arrive. Phoenix couldn't stop thinking about what had happened with the man. Why would the paper have shown that? Did it really matter at the moment? Sighing, she decided to examine the facts more later and maybe then figure it out.

"We have in attendance the Doctor and Rose Tyler. Along with Princess Adonnen from the planet Wreothen. Thank you. All staff to their positions." The blue man called and a lot of small blue people came out. Phoenix couldn't help but compare them to Oompa Loompas.

While the man was giving them instructions, she leaned over to the Doctor. "Why'd he call me Princess Adonnen?"

"Adonnen in English roughly translates to reborn and since the Phoenix is reborn...that's what the Princess goes by when she has to make any formal presence." The Doctor informed her. "Don't worry about it. Just go ahead and correct them if you don't like it."

"How come the paper introduced me as her? Why not make a completely false identity like you did?" She continued to question, glancing around the room.

"Sometimes the psychic paper malfunctions. Doesn't always work right. Could be it wasn't used to you and it crossed it's wires." He replied with a grin and a shrug. "Don't worry. Won't be here for more than a few hours."

"Representing the Forest of Cheam, we have trees, namely, Jabe, Lute and Coffa." The blue man called, gesturing towards a door that was across the room from them.

Phoenix turned towards the doors as they opened, revealing people that literally had bark for skin. They were magnificent! The woman gracefully gliding into the room, the branches on her head swaying in the slight breeze created by her movement. It was almost like she wasn't walking, but rather floating across the floor.

As Jabe approached, Phoenix was struck by the atmosphere the woman held with her. Just her presence made Phoenix's muscles calm and in seconds, she was completely relaxed. She wasn't even too worried about the psychic paper anymore. Just calm. It was similar to the feeling she often felt when sitting by herself by a stream.

The man who was in charge of the station was still introducing more aliens, but Phoenix barely heard him doing so as Jabe came to a stop in front of them.

"The gift of peace," Jabe murmured as she smiled at them, taking a potted plant from the tray one of her escorts held. "I bring you a cutting of my grandfather."

"Thank you," the Doctor answered almost reverently as he accepted the gift. He handed it gently to Rose and began searching himself for a gift to give in return.

"Yes, gifts." He cleared his throat. "I give you in return air from my lungs." The Doctor blew a gentle breath on her face and branches. Jabe closed her eyes and shuttered slightly, almost like the Doctor had carressed her. Then again, trees did breath carbon dioxide which is what people exhaled. Did that still apply for the Doctor? He did still breath oxygen.

"How intimate." Jabe murmured, smiling flirtatiously.

"There's more where that came from." The Doctor flirted back, beaming.

"I bet there is." Jabe replied, smiling gently at them before turning to leave. Rose watched the trees leave with a slightly agitated expression. Was she already getting jealous? Phoenix wondered, watching the blonde carefully. It's not like she really knew him yet. She didn't have any claim, plus she had a boyfriend. One that was completely dedicated to her. Well, perhaps the blonde would figure all of this out soon. After all, she had just had to rethink practically everything she knew so maybe it wasn't as ridiculous as Phoenix was thinking. It was a fact that Rose liked to flirt, maybe this was just her way of coping. Could Phoenix really deny her that?

"The Moxx of Balhoon." The Doctor introduced as a squat, blue creature approached them on some sort of hovering chair. The Doctor seemed delighted to meet him.

"My felicitations on this historical happenstance." The Moxx greeted and Phoenix nearly laughed at how the Doctor leaned in to hear since the Moxx's voice was both quiet and high-pitched. "I give you the gift of bodily saliva."

And then he promptly spit at Rose before moving on. The saliva hit Rose square in the eye and the blonde flinched back, rubbing at her eye with her sleeve. The Doctor didn't seem too worried about it and after being sure that she got all of the saliva out Rose began watching the aliens again.

"Ah! The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. I bring you air from my lungs." The Doctor greeted the black robed beings as they approached before breathing heavily on them.

Phoenix watched as the Adherent in the front lifted a large metal hand and held a small metal ball out to them as it spoke. "A gift of peace in all good faith."

"And last but not least, our very special guest. Ladies and gentlemen, and trees and multi-forms, consider the Earth below." The blue man called for attention as he looked around the room. "In memory of this dying world, we call forth the last Human. The Lady Cassandra O'Brien Dot Delta Seventeen."

Phoenix felt surprise as a face in a piece of thin skin stretched in a rectangular frame was wheeled in by two men who were wearing top-to-toe hospital whites. That was the last human? That was disgusting. She was barely recognizable as over at the Doctor, she saw that he was laughing at both her and Rose's shocked expressions.

"Oh, now, don't stare. I know, I know it's shocking, isn't it? I've had my chin completely taken away and look at the difference. Look how thin I am. Thin and dainty. I don't look a day over two thousand." Cassandra announced in a high pitched bubblegum voice. She sounded like she'd been very beautiful once. "Moisturize me. Moisturize me."

One of the men that were dressed in white approached and used a pump to spray something on her.

"Truly, I am the last Human. My father was a Texan, my mother was from the Arctic Desert. They were born on the Earth..." As Cassandra continued her speech, Phoenix tuned out, watching carefully as Rose slowly walked forward to examine Cassandra for herself. Phoenix couldn't help but wonder about Cassandra. Had she had the operations done because she didnt want to die? Because she was insecure and thought she looked better that way? Maybe there was a medical reason? Whatever the reason, Phoenix wasn't sure she could believe that someone had willingly done that to themselves. Then again, who was she to judge? This wasn't her time period. Maybe that's just how things were. Plus it was Cassandra's life, not hers. Cassandra's choice.

A large Ostrich egg was carried in after a minute and Phoenix listened to the claims that Cassandra made about it and she had to wonder how wrong her own history was. If someone from say the 1600's were to travel into the future and see some artifacts how accurate would the historians be?

After a bit more talking, a large jukebox from the 50's was rolled into the room.

"According to the archives, this was called an iPod. It stores classical music from humanity's greatest composers." Cassandra explained, smiling. "Play on!"

One of the little attendants pressed a button on the jukebox and the strains of Tainted Love by Soft Cell began playing through the room. Phoenix glanced over at the Doctor to seem him beaming as he danced a little to the music. She couldn't help but laugh.

At this the Doctor pulled her to him and led her in a small swing dance move. "So, what'd you think?"

"Of the aliens?" She checked as he spun her. "They're amazing. Jabe was especially extraordinary." She smiled softly up at him and spoke sincerely. "Thank you for showing me this."

"Thank you for coming." He replied with a grin. "So, earlier, where'd you want to go?"

"Well, it doesn't really matter at the moment. This is amazing even though it wasn't my first choice." She responded, ducking her head down as she thought of what her request would've been. "But if you must know, I wanted to go see Queen Victoria. I've always admired her strength and endurance even though she lost so much and had so many attempts on her life. Probably silly of me."

He beamed at that as their dance came to an end, but it abruptly faded as he looked around the room. "Where's Rose?"

Phoenix followed his gaze and immediately felt guilty. She should've made sure Rose was doing okay. The Doctor released her and headed after Rose with Phoenix following him. The Doctor paused as Jabe stepped in front of them, but Phoenix merely sidestepped the tree with an apologetic smile and continued after Rose at a quick walk.

Phoenix frowned when she realized she couldn't be sure which way Rose had gone. The corridor went both right and left. Frowning, Phoenix debated what the best method of finding the blonde would be. She could have gone left and headed back to the Tardis, but then again that would be assuming that Rose remembered the way through all of the many corridors the station had. Phoenix couldn't even remember where the Tardis was parked. Plus, Rose was overwhelmed when she'd fled the room, so she may not have even been thinking very straight at all and could have gone to the right.

Sighing, Phoenix threw her hands up before heading to the left, hoping that she would find the blonde. If something happened to her, Phoenix would never forgive herself. She'd been too busy dancing with the Doctor to even notice that she'd left. When would she learn?

After a few more minutes of walking, Phoenix heard Rose's voice echoing down the hall. "I just sort of hitched a lift with this man. I didn't even think about it. I don't even know who he is. He's a complete stranger. Anyway, don't let me keep you. Good luck with it."

Who was she talking to? Phoenix wondered, speeding up. Why did they have such long hallways?

"Thank you, miss. And er, thank you for the permission. Not many people are that considerate." Phoenix wasn't sure who the voice belonged to but dismissed it for the moment.

"Okay. See you later." Rose said, her voice a little louder now. By the time, Phoenix met anyone, Rose was nowhere in sight and whoever Rose had been conversing with had crawled into the ventilation shaft.

"Oh, there's two of you." The person was saying, sounding rather cheerful. "Got yourself a little mate."

"Excuse me?" Phoenix murmured, causing the woman to jump before carefully emerging from the vent. "Sorry. I was just wondering if you'd seen my friend. She's blonde and her name's Rose? I thought I heard her talking not too long ago."

"You have to give us permission to talk, miss." The woman murmured while replacing the panel for the ventilation shaft.

"Oh, well, then you have permission now and whenever else I speak to you." Phoenix murmured, frowning slightly before shaking her head and ignoring the surprised expression on the woman's face. "About my friend, have you seen her?"

"Uh, I-um, yes, yes. She was just here a minute ago. She went that way, miss." The woman stammered, still seeming quite shocked. Phoenix nodded and turned to head off. "Thank you. Most people wouldn't even consider given permission for one conversation let alone whenever they speak. As if we're equal."

Phoenix turned back around at those words. "What's your name?" She asked after a moment's silence.

"Raffalo, ma'am."

"Well, Raffalo, in my eyes we are equal. You shouldn't have to ask permission just to speak with someone. You're worth more than that." She murmured, edging back towards where the woman had directed her. "Thanks."

After Phoenix had disappeared around the corner, Raffalo glanced at the vent before sighing and heading out of the room with her stuff. Perhaps it was time she considered a different job.


	7. Favorite Colors

_Doctor's POV_

"Aye, aye." The Doctor greeted, hopping down the steps and sitting down before turning to Rose with a grin. "What do you think, then?"

"Great." Rose responded, smiling a little nervously. "Once you get past the slightly psychic paper."

He chuckled, glancing out the window that was looking down on the Earth. It was truly wonderful. Not only did he have a companion to share this with and to alleviate the loneliness but he had two! He didn't think he'd ever be able to have that again. Not after what had happened. His smile faded as his thoughts strayed. Did he deserve it though? After what he'd done?

"They're just so alien." The blonde human beside him said, thankfully breaking him from his dark thoughts. He turned to her with a questioning look. "The aliens are so alien. You look at 'em and they're alien."

"Good thing I didn't take you to the Deep South." He commented, nodding to her. He feared to think how she would've fared there. There'd probably be quite a bit of screaming before it all sunk in. Though she was dealing with it better than he'd expect from most humans.

Rose stared blankly at him for a moment before leaning back on her hand. "Where are you from?"

He quickly turned away, not really wanting to answer. He'd expected it to come up eventually, but he wasn't looking forward to having this discussion. Before it would've been no problem, but now? Now it was just a reminder of everything he'd lost. Everything he'd destroyed. Before Rose could notice any hesitance in his answer, he quickly gave a vague truth. "All over the place."

"They all speak English." Rose realized, frowning in confusion.

"No, you just hear English." The Doctor responded with enthusiasm, glad that she seemed to be dropping the topic of who he was as he reclined back onto his elbow. "It's a gift of the Tardis. The telepathic field, gets inside your brain and translates."

"It's inside my brain?" Rose asked, her eyes wide. Briefly he noticed Phoenix come in, her face also a bit shocked, though hers seemed a bit more curious than offended as she sat on the steps between him and Rose.

"Well, in a good way." He quickly reassured, not wanting to deal with any domestics. Humans could be touchy about the strangest things.

"Your machine gets inside my head." Rose repeated, frowning at him. "It gets inside and it changes my mind, and you didn't even ask?"

Well, when she put it that way, he could see why she would be offended by it. After all, he generally asked before entering someone's mind. It was just so familiar to him for the Tardis to translate as she had always been like that. None of his other companions from the past had any problems with it.

"I didn't think about it like that." The Doctor mused, frowning a little.

"No, you were too busy thinking up cheap shots about the Deep South!" She snapped, angrily glaring over at him. "Who are you, then, Doctor?" Rose demanded again.

The Doctor sighed and sat up, staring away from her. Couldn't she just drop it? Honestly, why did it matter to her? He'd proven that she could trust him, hadn't he?

Rose, however, wasn't going to drop it, it would seem. "What are you called? What sort of alien are you?"

"I'm just the Doctor." He replied, trying to control the emotions that came up when he had to think about his past.

"From what planet?" The blonde pushed, blinking at him though her voice was much quieter.

He laughed humorlessly, turning to her. "Well, it's not as if you'll know where it is!"

"Where are you from?"

"What does it matter?" He demanded, desperately wanting her to drop it. He was afraid of what might happen if he delved too far into memories of that time. He would be a mess, exactly as he'd been after the war. Maybe he'd revert back to who he'd been whilst _in_ the war. The thought caused a shiver to rush through him. No, he couldn't think about that.

"Rose, stop it. Obviously, he doesn't want to talk about it so just-" Phoenix started, but Rose quickly cut her off, still staring at the Doctor.

"Tell me who you are!"

"This is who I am, right here, right now, all right?" He snapped, jabbing his finger down to emphasize his words as he barely contained his anger. "All that counts is here and now, and this is me."

"Yeah, and I'm here too because you brought me here, so just tell me!" Rose shouted back, glaring at him. Not trusting himself, he stood and hurried down the steps, pressing his lips together and shoving his shaking hands into his pockets. He couldn't tell them. He couldn't even _begin_ to tell them, but at the same time it didn't look like the blonde was willing to let it go. He might have to take her home if she kept it up. The thought saddened him as he stared out at the dying Earth.

The fact of the matter was that it hurt to think about. Maybe he wasn't ready to take on companions again. It had been really bad in the first days after the war, but he thought he'd gotten better. Now, he could feel himself back on that edge. If he fell, he'd just become the mess he'd been again and he couldn't be sure of what actions he would take should he come to that. It would be for her own safety as well as his sanity. Quite literally. After the war, he'd nearly gone insane with the guilt. He couldn't face that again.

After another tense moment, he heard a quiet sigh followed by the sound of footsteps slowly approaching him. He expected it to be Rose, but was a little shocked to see that it was his other companion. Phoenix. Was she going to demand answers now as she had when they'd first met? She was definitely a curious one. He could relate to that, he had a hard time letting things be if there was a problem he couldn't figure out about them.

As she opened her mouth, he braced himself for the inevitable questions, she would have as she peered up at him with a very serious look in her eyes. "Right. I have a very, very serious question and I really think you need to answer it. It could be life or death."

What? He looked at her sharply, confused and a bit worried at just how serious she was being. Had something happened while he and Rose were talking alone? And if so, what?

Phoenix took a deep breath and he steeled himself for whatever she was going to ask. Making eye contact, she spoke very carefully. "What's your favorite color?"

He was silent for a moment before speaking. "That's your serious question?"

"Yep." She responded, popping the p'. "You can do a lot with the knowledge of someone's favorite color. You can get them a birthday gift, paint their room, make them happy, know random trivia, let them cross an old rickety bridge, honestly the list is endless."

He smiled down at her, chuckling a little. Though she still had the serious look on her face, he could see that she was a bit amused.

"It's blue." He murmured. "And what's yours, might I ask? Since it's such important life-saving knowledge."

She opened her mouth to answer, but before she could Rose hurried down to stand beside them. "All right. As my mate Shareen says, don't argue with the designated driver."

The blonde seemed to do that a lot, he pondered, glancing between her and Phoenix. He'd noticed it earlier. First, when they were in the Tardis and he'd asked where they'd like to go and then when they were first entering the station. Whenever Phoenix and him spoke together, they could expect Rose to jump in before they could really get far into a conversation.

Taking out her phone, Rose flipped it open, looking for a signal. "Can't exactly call for a taxi. There's no signal. We're out of range. Just a bit."

Or was he just imagining the animosity between the two? He wondered, glancing at Phoenix who was watching Rose mess with her phone with a small smile. She didn't seem bothered by it. Not really. Perhaps, he'd imagined the other times and this time, he could let slide. After all, it seemed like Rose was simply trying to make up for the events of a moment ago.

"Tell you what." The Doctor murmured, taking the blonde's phone out of her hand and pulling out his sonic. "With a little bit of jiggery pokery."

"Is that a technical term, jiggery pokery?" Rose wondered, watching him as he took the back out of her phone. She was smiling at him as she moved closer to see what he was doing.

"Yeah, I came first in jiggery pokery." He joked in a serious tone. "What about you?"

"Nah, failed hullabaloo." She responded, shaking her head and looking up at him as he placed the new battery into her phone. That should do it.

Closing her phone up, he handed it to her. "Here you go."

She glanced at him with wary eyes, obviously unsure of whether or not to believe him. He nodded with a smile, encouraging her to try it as he crossed his arms over his chest, glancing down at the phone's screen.

"Mum?" Rose wondered in a slightly disbelieving voice as the phone was answered. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Phoenix turn away and pace over to the stairs.

 _Phoenix's POV_

Phoenix glanced over to see Rose on the phone and her throat closed up. She could never do that again. She couldn't call her mother for comfort or advice if she got overwhelmed. Never again. She tried to calm down by taking a deep breath, but all that it accomplished was bringing her closer to tears.

Breathing out shakily, Phoenix turned away from the two of them, pacing over to the stairs. Apparently, even being millions of years in the future and above the planet Earth, she couldn't escape the pain, the overwhelming sorrow. But then again, she wasn't entirely sure that she wanted to either. If she did, it would just take her another step to admitting that her mother was truly gone and that she wasn't coming back.

She hadn't been standing there long before she felt the presence of someone behind her. Turning around, she saw that it was the Doctor and he was looking at her with worry and curiosity. "You alright?"

She quickly wiped at her eyes before looking up at him. "It's nothing." She forced a smile though she knew it was shaky. "I'll be fine. What about-?"

The station suddenly shook and she found herself grabbing the Doctor's arm as she stumbled before looking around with wide eyes. Once the shaking stopped, she turned to the Doctor, letting go of his arm.

He looked at her with a small smile as Rose joined them. "That's not supposed to happen."

 **Sorry this is so short! :( I really wanted to get something up for you guys since I was getting so many people who were requesting more! I wasn't sure where to go with it. I knew that I wanted to give some insight on the Doctor's thoughts on this scene, but other than that I'm not sure where to go with it apart from through the episode. I want it to be different from the other fics I've read. Still working out the how, so you're guy's criticism would be greatly appreciated and if you have any ideas I'd love to hear them. Even if I don't use the exact idea, they'll probably spark some inspiration in me! Thanks for those who've been reading and following this. It means a lot to me, really. Thanks, guys! I'll try to get another, longer chapter out before the end of the week!**


	8. Everything Changes

"That wasn't a gravity pocket. I know gravity pockets and they don't feel like that." The Doctor explained as he led them into the main viewing room where the party was ongoing.

Phoenix frowned, wondering what gravity pockets DID feel like. Would they be shakier than what they'd experienced? Less shaky? Or maybe in a gravity pocket one would lose gravity or further gain it?

Shaking herself out of her stray thoughts, she realized that the Doctor was speaking with Jabe. "Listened to the engines? They've pitched up about thirty Hertz. That dodgy or what?"

Phoenix frowned. Would trees know the workings of a ship? She supposed it was possible given that they were walking and talking. They could be just as curious as people were, honestly. She had no way to know, since in her time there was no way to understand what was on a tree's mind.

Jabe shrugged, her eyes widening a little as a smile played on her lips. "It's the sound of metal. It doesn't make any sense to me."

The Doctor grinned briefly at that before he continued his questions. "Where's the engine room?"

"I don't know, but the maintenance duct is just behind our guest suite, I could show you..."

Phoenix tuned out as she registered a tugging on her sleeve. Looking down, she saw one of the blue oompa loompas - as she'd decided to call them - desperately trying to get her attention. She glanced briefly at the trio she was with who seemed to be discussing Rose's status to the Doctor before she gave her full attention to the little man before her. He didn't say anything, simply held a card out for her.

Frowning, she took it and read it. All it said was: Meet me in five minutes.

Meet who? And where? She wondered, her frown deepening as the little oompa loompa scurried off to attend to his duties. Turning back to her companions, she realized that the Doctor and Jabe were heading into the hallway. Where were they going and what were she and Rose supposed to do in the meantime? That's what she got for not paying attention, she mused, frowning down at the card in her hand.

"And I want you home by midnight." Rose suddenly called, her eyes flicking to Jabe after sternly glaring at the Doctor. When she looked at Jabe, Phoenix could clearly see the jealousy in the blonde's eyes, though the Doctor seemed oblivious as the two disappeared around the corner.

As Rose started towards the corner where Cassandra was, Phoenix followed her, not really sure what else to do. Besides, the two of them needed to talk anyway. "Rose-"

"I don't want to hear it." Rose snapped, cutting her off. "I know what you're doing. What ya do best. Takin' what isn't yours."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Phoenix questioned, frowning at the blonde. "What have I ever taken from you?"

"Don't act dumb, we're not in school anymore." Rose protested, stopping and swinging around to face the brunette. "How long are you gonna keep this oblivious act up? You know what you did wrong!"

"It isn't an act, Rose." Phoenix said, shaking her head. "Is this why you've been upset at me all this time? You think that I've taken something from you?"

Rose scoffed. "Whatever. Let's just go back to ignorin' each other, yeah. Have fun and don't follow me." And before Phoenix could say anything else on the subject, Rose was stalking over to Cassandra.

Well, at least she was closer to knowing why her friend hated her, she thought, running a hand through her hair and sighing. Though what she could have taken was beyond her. She'd always let Rose take the lead and was very careful to not stake claims on something Rose was interested in because she knew that her friend could be very jealous. It was possibly one of her more prominent and dangerous flaws. Even when the two of them were both interested in the same guy, Phoenix would let Rose advance first and if the blonde did and was turned down, she was always the comforting friend.

One thing that Phoenix hated more than anything was conflict. If it could be avoided, she tried to avoid it, especially when it came to Rose. Not because the blonde scared her or because Phoenix thought that Rose was better than her. It was simply because she valued Rose as a friend over any boy or thing they might have conflict over.

If she knew what Rose was so upset over, she would quite literally bend over backwards to try to fix it and then if the blonde had festered her hate for too long, they would go from there. Most would probably wonder how Phoenix could be so forgiving to someone who had quite literally made her life hell. Not on the level that Vanessa did, but Rose had definitely not helped her any in the last couple of years, not counting the past few days, of course.

She'd learned the hard way, that you only had a limited amount of time with people before they were gone. If something could be made better by her simply not holding a grudge then she wouldn't hold a grudge. She knew the real Rose and she knew that most of the things that Rose had done over the past few years had stemmed from hurt. Something that Phoenix had done had deeply hurt her friend so of course she would do whatever she could to fix it. After she found out what _it_ was.

 _There you are._

Phoenix startled and glanced around in shock as someone spoke in her mind. The soft sound of the voice probably would've sounded like someone right in front of her if it weren't for a strange underlying feeling. It was almost like a pressure against her brain. Not a painful or even uncomfortable one, but still a pressure.

 _I was beginning to think that you were going to stand me up. Not very polite of you._

Zeroing in on where she thought the voice was coming from, she found herself looking down at the Face of Boe. Perhaps there was just a weird timber in his tone that made her feel like he was speaking in her thoughts, she mused, biting her lip and staring at the face in confusion and wariness.

"Well, you weren't very specific in your instructions." She murmured, holding up the card for him to see before tucking it into her pocket. "Plus, isn't it still considered creepy for a stranger to request a young girl's presence without having met before?"

The face's lips turned up into a smirk. _Not when you are a princess, your Highness. I would assume that it's normal for those who are inclined to make a treaty that would better both species to request a royal's presence. Especially a royal as fine and gorgeous as yourself._

This time when he spoke, she couldn't deny that somehow he was speaking in her head. Telepathically. It was definitely him, but his lips didn't move when she heard his voice.

"How are you-? Nevermind." She murmured, tugging on a strand of her hair. Telepathy could be normal now or even back in her time, at least among aliens. If she'd been from this time, then she'd probably not have an issue with it honestly. Though the rest of what he said, did bother her slightly.

Speaking quickly, she worked to get herself out of any diplomatic problems. "I suppose you are correct. However, I'm on vacation and would prefer to do business later. I'd like to enjoy my time with my friends whilst saying farewell to such a fine planet."

The face chuckled in her mind and sort of nodded before a few of his assistants moved to stand beside him. _Please accompany me. I need to speak with you._ At her instantly suspicious and wary expression, he continued. _Don't worry. You're not in trouble. I already know about the Doctor and the TARDIS._

Frowning, Phoenix watched his men slowly wheel him away as she debated following him. How could he know about the Doctor? The alien had said that he was alone so she'd assumed he hadn't really had many people around that often, though that had been a bit naive of her. Now thinking about it, the Doctor had probably met and made an impression on several people, what with the running around and saving people thing. It would be an inescapable factor of his life style. But then again, he'd also made as many enemies.

Now, she just had to decide whether this was a friend or an enemy. He hadn't said anything to specify which category he fell into. Though, if he were an enemy of the Doctor's wouldn't the Doctor have recognized him? A face in a jar wasn't exactly inconspicuous. The Doctor would have remembered him. Right? Not to mention, he'd deemed the station safe enough to leave both her and Rose unattended while he went off with Jabe.

The most logical explanation was that it was indeed safe for her to further pursue the conversation with the Face of Boe. There was no denying how curious she was. After all, it wasn't everyday that she met a telepathic face in a jar who wanted to speak with her - a girl from five billion years in the past - and had a thing for flirting.

Glancing over at Rose, she saw that the girl was speaking with Cassandra. She should be okay, she reasoned before sighing and heading after the Face of Boe.

She was led into a large adjacent room that was to the side of the main view deck. Not too far from help, but not close enough to have someone eavesdrop. There was nothing particularly interesting about the room apart from the pedestal that held a sort of wrist strap device thingy.

 _First, I need you to put this on._ The Face said in her mind, one of his assistants picking up the device and bringing it over to her.

"Why?" She questioned, folding her arms in front of her. "Why not just tell me what you want to say first?"

 _This will ensure that no one can manipulate or force you to change your mind on the matter. Plus, it'll help prevent any prying ears. After all, we wouldn't want anyone to get any ideas, would we?_

Flushing a little at the suggestive comment, she glanced at the device, weighing the pros and cons of putting on a device she didn't know anything about. On the one hand, he could be telling the truth and if she refused to place the device on her wrist, she might not get to hear what he had to tell her. On the other hand, he could be lying and the device could do any number of things. For all she knew, it could create a black hole where she stood. Then again, that would be assuming that the Doctor had overlooked a threat and with how often he had to have come into contact with such threats, she didn't think that was too likely. Especially, not one in the form of a giant face.

Plus, the information the Face of Boe had for her could be very important. If she left, she'd never know what it was and the curiosity would continuously hammer her brain until she went insane unless she had a very good solid reason for walking away from the knowledge. As she'd told the Doctor before, it was always better to have more knowledge than you needed rather than have too little.

Glancing at the Face of Boe again, she sighed and held out her arm to let the assistant fasten it to her wrist. "Okay. Now, what did you want to tell me?"

 _I'm sorry._

She frowned at him, even more confused by his sorrowful and genuine apology. Sorry for what? She didn't have time to ask before the assistant pressed a button and a ripping sensation spread through her. The Face of Boe and the station disappeared. Images flew around her and through her head all disjointed. It felt like her entire body was being disassembled. It burned but at the same time, she couldn't feel anything. It was like her body was contradicting itself. She was together, but she wasn't. She could feel, could move, could breathe, but she couldn't. It was almost like she wasn't in existence while also existing.

When it finally stopped, everything slammed into her like a semi driving down the road and she found herself on her hands and knees on a concrete floor, gasping for air as her head pounded. It felt like someone had dropped a mountain of hammers on her head and then stuffed her under a house. Like the Wicked Witch of the West. Well, at least the house part.

"There you go. I can taste it." An American male voice floated up to her ears, slightly overpowered by the buckets of water that were pelting the earth. With a groan, she forced herself to her feet, glancing at the device that had been stuck on her wrist and that had presumably brought her here. The man continued to talk about something called estrogen as she looked around.

She was on what appeared to be the sixth floor of...well, some car park. Which car park or city even she couldn't really tell. Then again, she couldn't really tell when she was either. Sighing, she rubbed her temples before looking around for an exit.

The man continued speaking about the rain and contraceptives and as he continued she halted, looking back towards the voice and focusing more on what he was saying.

"Still, at least I won't get pregnant. Never doing that again." He seemed rather nonchalant about the whole topic. "How's it going?"

So he wasn't alone, Phoenix surmised, heading for the edge of the car park. What did he mean he got pregnant? That wasn't possible. At least not on earth it wasn't. Then again, something about the way he spoke, seemed off.

"Nothing yet." A female voice responded. "It's got to connect. I've just got to feel it."

Feel what? And what needed to connect? What exactly were they doing? Or was she talking about feeling a phone connection? Phoenix frowned as she came to a stop by the ledge, taking a deep breath before carefully and slowly peering over it, her head now getting soaked by the downpour of rain.

There were four people standing around a fifth person who was either dead or unconscious. She was hoping it was the latter. There were two women and the rest were men. Lights had been set up around the man who was lying out on his back and the others each seemed to have some sort of tech apart from one man who Phoenix was assuming was the boss. Everyone else was working while he observed. It was either boss or trainee, but something about the way he held himself, even from about six floors up, she could tell that he was a leader.

Was this why the Face of Boe had sent her here? Did he need her to do something? Why not just send the Doctor? He was definitely more qualified to take care of a problem like this, wasn't he? She'd only just learned about all of this.

"Then hurry up and feel it." A familiar voice snapped and Phoenix's gaze moved to a man who appeared to be holding a camera. Who was that? She wondered, frowning as she tried to place his voice. "I'm freezing my arse off here."

"I can't just flick a switch. It's more like access. It grants me access." The female voice from before responded and on closer inspection, Phoenix could make out what appeared to be a large, metal glove on the woman's hand. Access to what?

"Whatever that means." The man dismissed, still holding the camera on the woman. Phoenix's frown deepened. She'd definitely heard his voice before. Many times actually, but where?

"It's like-Oh, oh, oh." The woman started explaining before muttering in excitement as the palm of the glove began glowing blue. Definitely something the Doctor should be dealing with, Phoenix concluded, but she couldn't bring herself to stop observing. She needed to figure out what they were doing. Besides any information she could give the Doctor would help, right? It didn't mean she had to get involved.

"Positions." The first speaker said quickly. All of them congregated around the man, who Phoenix was pretty sure was dead at this point. But what could they possibly want with a dead body?

"If I get punched again, I'm punching him right back." The camera man said before crouching down. Phoenix frowned examining everything about him. He was wearing a leather jacket, jeans and she couldn't actually tell what shoes he was wearing. He had short hair, black or brown, it was hard to tell exactly with the rain. Who was he?

"Just concentrate." The first man ordered before turning to the woman with the glove. "Suzie."

The woman named Suzie, knelt behind the dead man's head and picked up his head, cradling it in the palm of the glove. Almost instantly, the rain stopped falling and the lights they'd set up grew brighter. Phoenix didn't have more than a few seconds to process this before the dead man's eyes shot open. But..how?! Phoenix's eyes widened and she gripped the railing tighter. Resurrection wasn't possible. But then again, she didn't think aliens or time travel was possible either. How much did she not know?

"There was...What was...I was, I was." The man stammered in fear, looking around wildly. "Oh, my God. I was going home."

Phoenix felt a pang in her chest as she heard the fear in his voice.

"Listen to me." The second female who so far hadn't said anything spoke, her voice was urgent. "We've only got two minutes so it's important that you listen, okay?"

"Who are you?"

"Trust me. You're dead." The woman said, dodging the man's question. Peering closer, Phoenix realized that the woman was oriental.

How could she be so heartless? Phoenix wondered. Or was it heartlessness? She'd said that they only had two minutes. But that didn't seem like the best way to get someone calm enough to answer questions.

What exactly was that glove? Where did it come from? Where did these people find it? The Doctor might know or would he need to see the glove? It couldn't hurt to ask, right? As soon as she got back, she would. Or...would she get back?

The Face of Boe had never told her how to reverse the device! She could always call Rose, but then again, her friend would most likely ignore her. How was she going to let the Doctor know what was going on? What about getting home? What if she was out of her own time period? She had no idea where she was!

"You were stabbed."

The familiar voice brought her out of her thoughts and she returned her attention to the people down below.

"I'm not dead. I can see you." The man protested, his voice full of disbelief.

"We've brought you back, but we haven't got long." The unknown woman murmured. "I'm sorry, but you've got to concentrate. Who did this to you? What did you see?"

Is that what they were doing then? Phoenix wondered, even more confused. If they were catching a murderer, why would the Face of Boe want her to do something about it? How would it even affect him? He was five billion years in the future!

Frowning, Phoenix absently listened to the people below while she realized that she'd probably assessed her situation wrongly when she put her trust in the Face of Boe. She'd assumed that the Doctor would be able to ascertain what was a threat and what wasn't, but that was naive. He couldn't possibly know every threat in the present time, let alone every time period they traveled to!

"Police said one stab wound in the back." The familiar man explained and she forced herself to focus again. All of the other stuff didn't matter right now, she concluded as the oriental woman confirmed that the man hadn't seen his attacker. There was more pressing matters, such as some random people being able to bring someone back from the dead. Even if it was only for two minutes.

"Thirty seconds." Suzie murmured, letting them know how much time they had left. What more could they get? The guy was stabbed in the back. He hadn't seen his killer.

"But he didn't see anyone." The oriental woman protested, looking up at Suzie.

"Don't waste it."

"What else do I say?" The woman wondered, panicking a little.

The man who'd she'd heard when she landed here, knelt beside the man, smiling at him a little. "What's your name?"

"John. John Tucker."

"Okay, John." The man said with a nod. "Not long now."

"Who are you?" The man wondered.

Phoenix leaned forward a bit more, eager for the man's answer. If he was the leader, she could look his name up, find him, and maybe get answers. Maybe they'd be able to help her figure out the device that was strapped to her wrist. They'd been able to figure out a glove that could bring people back from the dead after all.

"Captain Jack Harkness." He answered easily, smiling gently. "Tell me, what was it like when you died? What did you see?" Phoenix held her breath as she waited to see what John would answer. He didn't.

Jack pressed for an answer. "John, tell me what you saw."

"Ten seconds." Suzie informed.

"Nothing. I saw nothing." John quickly returned to sobbing. "Oh, my God. There's nothing."

And then he died. The rain started again and the lights dimmed back down. Phoenix felt frozen to the spot. Nothing? So her mother was where? A pit of darkness? Obviously, he'd had consciousness if he could recall that. Or maybe that's why there was nothing. Like when you blacked out and you couldn't remember what happened in between blacking out and waking up.

"Shit." The man with the familiar voice cursed, his tone full of irritation. "I said it was stupid, telling him he was dead."

Phoenix blinked, turning her gaze to the man. Did they not care that the man was dead? They were talking about a life! Granted, he'd already been dead when they got there, but he was terrified! He probably hadn't felt that fear before he died the first time, but they'd brought him back and forced him to realize that he was dead, that he'd been murdered, and that all he had waiting for him was nothing. They could at least have the deceny to be more compassionate!

"Well, you try it." The oriental woman snapped, standing.

"'Trust me'?" The man she knew mocked, also standing. "Like that's gonna work."

"Told the last corpse he was injured, he wasted the whole two minutes screaming for an ambulance. Maybe there's no right way of doing it. " Jack cut in, looking between them. She'd hope there was no right way of telling someone that they'd been brought back from the dead and asking them about who killed them. Suddenly, his head snapped up to look at her before he raised his voice. "What do you think?"

She quickly ducked back, startling a little at being caught. How did he know that she was there? She'd thought she'd been careful not to make any sounds. Now what should she do? She could always make a run for it, but then she might never get any of the answers, she needed, she thought. Pressing her lips together, she turned and spotting an exit, she headed for it, hurrying to try and catch them before they left.

The ripping sensation flooded her again and before she knew it, she was collapsing somewhere new. It didn't look familiar, she thought, standing and rubbing her temples again. Her headache was now two times worse then before. How was she going to find them again and where was she?

She didn't have to wonder about the latter for long before a very familiar voice floated to her.

"...and there's always money in land."

Shoving the pain to the back of her head, Phoenix turned and raced towards the sound, following the sound of Jabe talking about her ancestry. Soon, the two came into view, though neither noticed her. They were standing by what could have been a moniter or screen of some sort.

"And what about your ancestry, Doctor?" Jabe asked as the Doctor soniced the device they were beside. Phoenix slowed and glanced to the Doctor in curiosity, wondering if he'd answer. "Perhaps you could tell a story or two. Perhaps a man only enjoys trouble when there's...nothing else left."

The Doctor seemed to be ignoring Jabe and Phoenix found herself pushing the events from before to the back of her mind as she debated whether or not she should step in. Obviously, he really didn't want to talk about this. He'd practically ripped Rose's head off earlier. She opened her mouth to speak, but decided against it when Jabe continued.

"I scanned you earlier. The metal machine had trouble identifying your species." She informed. "It refused to admit your existence."

Why would it do that? Phoenix wondered, frowning as she watched the Doctor as Jabe continued. "And even when it named you, I wouldn't believe it. But it was right."

By now, the Doctor had stopped scanning and was just staring ahead. He was practically radiating with pain and Phoenix wanted nothing more than to envelop him in a hug. What happened to him? She wondered.

"I know where you're from. Forgive me for intruding, but it's remarkable that you even exist." Jabe continued and Phoenix carefully walked closer. "I just wanted to say how sorry I am."

Jabe put a hand on the Doctor's arm and the Doctor finally turned from the screen. Phoenix's heart clenched at the sight of tears in the alien's eyes. He placed his hand over Jabe's before noticing Phoenix. He quickly wiped the tears away and put on a casual manner.

"How long you been standin' there for?" He wondered, turning back to the screen and getting the door to open.

She sighed, moving to join them as they entered the room. "Not long. I have something that I really..." She trailed off as she spotted the three giant fans that were rotating over a walkway.

"Is it me, or is it a bit nippy?" The Doctor asked, moving over to a panel on the wall and scanning. "Fair do's, though, that's a great bit of air conditioning. Sort of nice and old fashioned. Bet they call it retro." The panel popped off and the Doctor smiled in success. "Gotcha."

Phoenix jumped back as a large metal spider came hopping out from behind the panel before scurrying up the wall. The Doctor moved to stand beside her, looking up at it with Jabe close behind.

"What the hell's that?" He wondered, his expression confused.

"You can say that again." Phoenix muttered, also looking up at the spider. She was assuming it wasn't part of the station and most likely had been the reason for the so called gravity pockets.

"Is it part of the retro?" Jabe wondered from behind her.

Phoenix shook her head as the Doctor responded. "Don't think so. Hold on."

Pointing his sonic up, he began scanning the creature or was he trying to deactivate it? Suddenly, something flashed by Phoenix's head and she jerked back, stumbling into the Doctor as she turned to see a sort of lassoe coiling back to Jabe as the Doctor caught the spider that was now falling from the wall.

"Hey, nice liana." The Doctor praised as he steadied her, smiling at Jabe.

"Thank you." Jabe said almost sheepishly. "We're not supposed to show them in public."

"Don't worry, I won't tell anybody." The Doctor reassured before looking at the metal spider.

"I won't either. Though I am curious as to why, you can't show them in public." Phoenix murmured, glancing at Jabe who seemed to be blushing a deep green. She was assuming it was probably a very private thing by the tree's reaction so she decided to let it drop, instead turning to the Doctor.

"Now then, who's been bringing their pets on board?"

Phoenix moved closer to examine it. "What's it for?"

"Sabotage." He looked up sharply as the computer declared that the Earth would die in ten minutes. "And the temperature's about to rocket." Grabbing her hand, he pulled her towards the door they'd come through. "Come on."


	9. Sunfilters and a Bitchy Trampoline

They raced out of the maintenance duct and down several corridors and by the time they came to a stop, they were outside a room that had smoke filtering through the door. A bright glare was coming through the small glass panel that served as a window inside the room.

Gagging a little on the smell, Phoenix covered her mouth and nose with her hand, watching as the little assistants frantically gathered around the door. What was that? She wondered, her mind racing as the Doctor pulled the assistants away from the door, sonicing the panel. The light was most likely from the sun, but why was it so bright? Then a horrible thought occured to her. Was it-?

Jabe spoke her thoughts before she could. "Is the Steward in there?!"

Phoenix looked at the Doctor with wide, questioning eyes. She was hoping he would say no.

"You can smell him." The Doctor answered quickly, still focusing on the panel he was sonicing. Phoenix glanced at the door sadly with the confirmation, but was quickly pulled from her sorrow by the Doctor's next words. "Hold on, there's another sun filter programmed to descend."

He didn't waste any time in heading off and Phoenix quickly followed, hoping they would get there in time. She was tired of loss, even if she didn't know these aliens well, no one deserved to go through that type of pain. Most of them probably had people that cared about them, in some manner at least.

She was a a few steps behind him as they sprinted down the corridors, soon turning a corner to see a room with smoke already seeping out. The computer kept up a stream of repetition. "Sunfilter descending. Sunfilter descending.."

The Doctor quickly went to sonic the panel as Phoenix caught up, coming to a stop beside him. "Anyone in there?"

"Let me out!" The voice of Rose came through the door.

Phoenix felt her blood run cold. No, this couldn't be happening. Not again. She'd been so stupid. She never should've trusted that Face of Boe! If she'd stayed with Rose, her friend would be safe.

"Oh, well it would be you." The Doctor responded, sounding slightly annoyed before turning back to the panel, but there was also a clear note of worry underlying the agitation.

"Open the door!" Rose yelled back, her voice snapping Phoenix out of her shock. Coming back to herself, she hurried over to the door, peering in through the window.

"Doctor! Get her out of there!" She cried desperately, worry overtaking her and dominating her actions.

"Hold on, give us two ticks." The Doctor responded, a little distracted as he focused on the panel.

There had to be a faster way, Phoenix thought, looking around frantically for some solution. She couldn't break down the door, the metal would be much to resilient, especially since the rays of the sun were having a difficult time with it. No other option presented itself to her. All she could do was wait and hope the Doctor managed to save her best friend. Her friend who was clearly terrified as she pounded on the door. Yet again, Phoenix found herself helpless to save those she cared for most.

"Sunfilter rising. Sunfilter Rising." The computer suddenly switched and as she watched, the rays started moving back up the window.

The Doctor smiled a little, looking towards the door in relief. Phoenix exhaled in relief, leaning her head against the wall as she smiled a bit at the Doctor in thanks. Just when the rays were almost gone, the computer decided to have another change of mind.

"Sunfilter descending. Sunfilter descending."

Phoenix snapped back to attention as the Doctor rushed back to the panel, bending down and opening the vent below it. "Just what we need. The computer's getting clever."

"Stop mucking about!" Rose shouted, fear in her voice as she started pounding on the door again.

Phoenix peered through the window, squinting to make out her friends face through the glaring brightness. What was she supposed to do? She wondered as her heart constricted with fear for her friend. It was five billion years in her future, even with all of the technology classes she'd taken, there was nothing she could do to help rewire the computer. She wasn't prepared for this.

"I'm not mucking about. It's fighting back." The Doctor called back, shooting Phoenix a glance. The brunette was being very quiet and the look of fear and worry on her face had him working even more frantically then before. He'd brought them here, he'd put them in danger and he was going to get them out of it. He wasn't losing anyone else. He wouldn't be the cause of any more death. No more.

"Open the door!" Rose cried before the pounding stopped. Phoenix flinched back at the heat as the sun's rays descended more, her friend ducking away from the door to stay out of reach of them. "The lock's melted!"

"Doctor, please hurry!" Phoenix shouted, tears welling in her eyes as she watched him sonic some wires he'd pulled from the panel he'd opened.

"Sunfilter descending. Sunfilter descending."

Phoenix felt like she couldn't breathe as the light crept further and further down. For all she knew, Rose had already been consumed by the heat. No, she recoiled at the thought, searching for some logic that proved that conclusion false, running her hands harshly through her hair. The smell, she realized, grabbing onto the bit of hope. She didn't smell burnt flesh as she had with the Steward.

Glancing over at the Doctor, she saw him shove his screwdriver further into the panel and only a moment later, the computer once again changed. "Sunfilter rising. Sunfilter rising."

Phoenix couldn't help but be cautious, not letting herself relax until the Doctor was beside her. "The whole thing's jammed. I can't open the doors. Stay there! Don't move!"

"Where are am I going to go, Ipswich?" Rose demanded and relief hit Phoenix like a battering ram. She was fine. She was alive.

"Phoenix, come with me." The Doctor murmured, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards where they'd come. He could tell that she wanted to protest, but thankfully she didn't. They didn't have time to argue and since Rose wasn't going anywhere it only left Phoenix as the one of his two companions who wasn't safe.

She followed the Doctor back to the main platform, anger festering in her core, though she fought to remain calm on the outside. As they were walking out of the lift, she could hear Cassandra talking.

"How's that possible? Our private rooms are protected by a code wall. Moisturize me, moisturize me." As she spoke, the Doctor led Phoenix over to Jabe, taking the immobile spider from her.

"Summon the Steward." The Moxx presented, probably following protocol.

Phoenix lowered her head sadly at the thought of the man. Who would be missing him?

"I'm afraid the Steward is dead." Jabe informed them sadly, but firmly. All of the assembled aliens were shocked by this news and Phoenix glanced at the Doctor, who was messing with the spider. He seemed to have a plan, though she wasn't sure what it was, she had to trust that it would get them out of this mess.

"Who killed him?" The Moxx wondered, obviously confused and scared.

"This whole event was sponsored by the Face of Boe. He invited us. Talk to the Face. Talk to the Face. " Cassandra accused as the Face of Boe shook his head.

Actually, that might have some merit, Phoenix thought, staring at the Face with slight suspicion. After all, he'd already tricked her earlier. He'd lied to her already and as of yet was the most likely candidate she had.

"What about the princess?" Someone called out and with a shock Phoenix found that they were all looking at her. She'd nearly forgotten about how the Psychic paper had identified her to these people. "Shouldn't she be doing something? Or is this further proof of her planet's deceitful ways. Everyone knows her planet isn't to be trusted. No one's even seen her before today!"

The aliens all seemed to get on board this train of thought and Phoenix found herself slightly scared as they all began yelling at her, accusing her. The emotion of the crowd was almost tangible as they pressed in on her and she hurried to defend herself. "I would never do something like this."

As they drew closer, she found herself being pulled back and she gasped, her head whipping around to see that it was the Doctor who'd grabbed her.

"Easy way of finding out." He said, his voice demanding silence as he held up the spider. "Someone brought their little pet on board. Let's send him back to master." He placed the spider on the floor and Phoenix watched as it crawled over to Cassandra.

Glancing up, Phoenix was startled to find that the last human was staring at her, with an emotion in her eyes that sent shivers of unease running down her spine. She was almost certain that it was Cassandra, but the spider quickly turned away after scanning her, heading over to the black gowned group.

"The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. J'accuse!" Cassandra burst out, glaring over at the group.

Frowning, Phoenix glanced over at them. That didn't seem right. They weren't even denying it, though. They weren't doing anything. Glancing back to Cassandra, Phoenix felt fear pool in her stomach as she realized the woman was once again staring at her. She was denying quite a bit and was really the only one who'd been accusing anyone.

"That's all very well, and really kind of obvious, but if you stop and think about it," The Doctor said, walking over to the Adherants. The Adherants leader swung out an arm to hit him, but the Doctor easily caught it, pulling it off with ease. "A Repeated Meme is just an idea. And that's all they are, an idea."

Reaching up, he yanked one of the wires dangling from the arm, and all of the Adherants collapsed. Phoenix snuck a glance over to Cassandra as the Doctor dropped the arm. The last human was rolling her eyes and for some reason this angered Phoenix even more than Rose nearly dying had. Cassandra didn't even care! She knew that she'd killed people and it didn't matter to her!

"Remote controlled Droids. Nice little cover for the real troublemaker." The Doctor explained, nudging the spider with his foot. "Go on, Jimbo. Go home."

"I bet you were the school swot and never got kissed." Cassandra muttered with clear agitation after the spider went back over to her, causing the Doctor to raise his eyebrows. "At arms!"

Her attendants raised their spray guns and the Doctor stepped back mockingly, bringing his hands to his chest. "What are you going to do, moisturize me?"

"With acid." She responded flatly. "Oh, you're too late, anyway. My spiders have control of the mainframe." She smirked at them. "Oh, you all carried them as gifts, tax free, past every code wall. I'm not just a pretty face."

"Sabotaging a ship while you're still inside it? How stupid's that?" The Doctor insulted, incredulous.

Phoenix watched Cassandra cautiously. The Doctor was right, that would be stupid, which is why she got the feeling that perhaps Cassandra had a different plan in mind.

"I'd hoped to manufacture a hostage situation with myself as one of the victims." At this remark, most of the other aliens glared at the piece of skin. "The compensation would have been enormous."

The Doctor sighed in aggravation, turning a dark stare on Cassandra. "Five billion years and it still comes down to money."

Was there no hope for the world then? Would they always be greedy to the core? It was greed that had gotten her mother killed, greed took everything away. And yet, it was so hard to get rid of.

Phoenix glared coldly at Cassandra as she began speaking again.

"Do you think it's cheap, looking like this? Flatness costs a fortune." Cassandra snapped, her eyes narrowing. "I am the last human, Doctor. Me. Not that freaky little kid of yours."

"Arrest her, the infidel." The Moxx of Balhoon cried out, nodding smugly at Cassandra as he tried to take control of the situation and Phoenix glanced around as all of the other aliens in the room stopped panicking, gradually leaning towards being angry and demanding for an arrest. Curious, how people could switch moods so quickly. All it took was the one person to stand up and people would rally behind them.

"Oh, shut it, pixie." Cassandra hissed, causing the Moxx to splutter in surprise. "I've still got my final option."

Phoenix leveled her gaze on Cassandra as the computer announced that the Earth would die in three minutes. She didn't even look worried.

"And here it comes. You're just as useful dead, all of you. I have shares in your rival companies and they'll triple in price as soon as you're dead. My spiders are primed and ready to destroy the safety systems." She smiled in glee. "How did that old Earth song go? Burn, baby, burn."

"Then you'll burn with us." Jabe growled, her jaw clenched. Phoenix didn't even see a spark of fear in the tree's eyes. They were all about to die and yet, Jabe was bravely facing it down. She would continue to fight till the end.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Phoenix felt her blood boil at the false sympathy. She didn't even care that she was sentencing people to die! Taking them away from those who cared for them. "I know the use of teleportation is strictly forbidden, but I'm such a naughty thing. Spiders, activate."

Phoenix flinched as things started exploding around them. Turning fearfully, she met the Doctor's eyes, they were angry. So terribly angry, but she thought she saw something else there. Of course, he had the right to be angry, but there was something else. Something she couldn't place.

Cassandra's grating voice pulled her from her contemplation's. "Force fields gone with the planet about to explode. At least it'll be quick. Just like my fifth husband." Cassandra actually had the gall to laugh as her men stepped back to her sides. "Oh, shame on me. Bye, bye, darlings. Bye, bye, my darlings."

As a light engulfed them and they began to fade, Phoenix again felt as if she were being ripped apart and one moment she was on the deck with the Doctor and the others and the next she wasn't.


	10. Truth and Deception

Phoenix again found herself on her hands and knees, gasping at the pounding headache that once again made itself known. Hurrying to her feet, she looked around, squinting as the bright lights caused her head to pound even more. What the hell was this thing? She thought, looking at the device on her wrist. Why did it keep snatching her away?

Oh, no! Everyone was going to die! Panicked, she began fiddling with the controls on the device. There had to be a way to get back! She couldn't just leave them! Screaming rang out suddenly and she jumped, looking away from the device and hurrying through the hallways towards the sounds.

"Go! Go! Go! Go!" A man's voice was shouting and rounding a corner, she realized it was the man she'd seen when she was on the rooftop. What was the significance of them? Glancing back, she was confronted by the body of a man who had blood pouring out of his throat whilst three people sprayed something with, well, she wasn't entirely sure.

The creature had sharp teeth with blood coating them. It must've attacked the man, she deduced, glancing between them. So did these people help with alien anomalies then? The man from earlier hurried past her and over to the others who were putting a bag over the creature's head. Were they going to kill it?

Then something that changed her world entirely. The man who was spraying the creature turned enough so that she could see his profile. Shock flooded her and the world seemed to slow down as she attempted to process what she was seeing.

"Owen?" She gasped out, her thoughts in turmoil as the world spun. But he was a doctor. He couldn't be involved in this. The man in question turned sharply upon hearing her voice only to see her disappear again.

When her feet touched ground again, she found herself collapsing to her back, her head pounding and black spots floating in her vision. The effects of this mode of transport were quite worrying. Would this happen when she had traveled on the TARDIS as well?

"There you are, princess." The voice was a little confusing at first, but she quickly came to realize that it was Cassandra. "Don't worry. You'll be able to watch the death of your friend's shortly. Moisturize me."

Groaning, she pushed herself to her feet, looking around as the black spots began to fade, her vision clearing. She was on another space station. Or was this one a ship? She couldn't be sure. It wasn't as nice as the one Rose and the Doctor were currently trapped on, but it wasn't too bad either. It was smaller and there was more lavish decorations.

"Why am I here?" She wondered aloud, confused.

"I will have your family pay ransom, of course. It's so simple and easy." Cassandra murmured with a sickening smile. "Just have to settle on a price for your pretty little head. Then I can place the blame on my rivals and then when your parent's receive your pretty little head in a box, they'll take care of that problem for me and I can gather up my rival's shares, as well."

Phoenix paled as Cassandra's assistant's moved towards her. She turned and bolted through the doors that led out into a corridor, her head protesting the quick motions. The corridors spun and she was barely able to remain on her feet. What had this device done to her?

Glancing back, she saw that Cassandra's men were catching up to her, one actually scaling the wall and crawling quickly towards her. He leapt in front of her, landing agilely and effectively blocking her path. Spotting a door to her left, she threw herself into the room, only to find that it was a dead end. No way out.

The men followed her into the enclosed space and she slowly turned to face them, taking note of what was at her exposal. All that was really in the room was a silver blanket that seemed to shimmer, the light reflecting on it almost appearing like waves. Okay, then she would have to face them head on. They wore hazmat suits and masks, so maybe that was a weakness, she reasoned, perhaps they were allergic to the germs in the air.

OR IT COULD JUST BE A FASHION STATEMENT, a voice in the back of her mind muttered, but she pushed it away. She didn't have the time to doubt.

Shifting her weight, she lunged out, grabbing the blanket and moving to throw it as a distraction. Before the fabric left her fingers though, she felt the familiar sensation of being ripped apart and being nonexistent before she was deposited onto a hard metal floor with a hot breeze berating her. Her stomach churned with the pain that was exploding between her temples, but the sound of a scream had her forcing her eyes open and looking over.

It was Jabe and she was on fire, a lever slipping from the tree's grasp. Shoving her pain to the side, Phoenix hurried to her feet, grabbing the blanket and enveloping the tree in it. Underneath her fingers, the blanket began to cool quite drastically, the shimmering growing brighter and increasing in speed. Her brows furrowed in confusion but she continued to pat the tree down, until she could only hear pained whimpers.

Taking in her surroundings, she saw that the Doctor was past the second fan and seemed to be trying to time his next move. What was he doing? The fans were practically going warp speed! He'd be killed!

The station gave another jolt as the computer spoke. "Heat levels rising. Heat level's rising."

Time was up, she realized, her eyes going wide. He must be trying to reset the shields. She turned away from the Doctor and looked to Jabe. "You need to go Jabe, the heat's only going to get worse. Go, I'll help the Doctor. I just have to hold this lever, right?"

The scalding hot lever that would most definitely burn her hands, but she would survive. The tree looked like she was about to protest but a stern glare from Phoenix had her nodding and heading off. Phoenix braced herself, turning to the lever, but it would be no use. The heat had caused the metal to fuse to the wall and the cool air from the blanket had solidified it.

"Ten...Nine...Eight-" Phoenix grabbed the lever as the computer began counting down, determined. It hadn't been stuck for long, maybe it wasn't as solid as it appeared. The heat had her hands turning red quickly and the pain was agonizing, especially coupled with her giant migraine, but she just grit her teeth and kept trying, looking over at the Doctor.

He was staring at her and she could tell that he was afraid. She couldn't be sure what he was afraid of, but she could see it. Growling in frustration, she braced her foot on the wall and pulled, her arms and hands protesting, but she kept going. It had to work.

Three. The lever broke away a little bit and she saw the fans slow a little. Two. The Doctor closed his eyes and stepped forward. One. He pulled the lever down and the shields rose just in time. Phoenix quickly released the lever, falling to her knees and gritting her teeth against the pained cries that wanted to escape due to her burned flesh.

Now that the heat had drastically gone down, the fans slowed, not having to work so hard anymore. Phoenix turned to watch as the Doctor walked over to her, though she was surprised at what she saw in his eyes. He was angry. But why?

"Doctor?" She queried as he came closer. "What's-"

He reached down and grabbed her shoulder's, pulling her to her feet, his eyes blazing. "Was it worth it?"

"What?" She wondered, completely confused and in pain.

"Now it makes sense. How you knew so much. Why you weren't scared or even uncomfortable with all of this." He snapped, his fingers gripping her roughly. "You've been planning it from the beginning, haven't you?! Ever since the Nestene Consciousness, you were planning this."

"What are you talking about?!" She demanded, fear and confusion rising in her as she stared at him. She'd thought she'd understood him.

"You're a Time Agent, working with Cassandra, aren't you?! You helped plan this."

She stared at him in shock at his accusation. How could he even think that? "Why would I do that?"

"For money. That's what it always comes down to, isn't it?" His eyes glared at her with darkness raging in their depths. So this was what it was like to be confronted with an alien's anger.

"How would I even manage to do what you're accusing me of?! You're the pilot! Even if I was working with Cassandra, the chances of us landing where I planned for us to are astronomical unless I plotted the course myself, which you know for a fact I didn't do!" She snapped, her eyes welling with tears as she fought against the pain and exhaustion that was thrumming through her entire body. "What the hell is a Time Agent anyways?"

"Oh, so that's how you want to play it?" He abruptly let go of her and she had to catch herself against the wall to stop from falling over, which only exasperated the pain in her hands. "Alright, then. We'll do it your way. When we first met you guessed what the plastic were right from the beginning, you supposedly figured out how they work not too long after that, you weren't the least bit surprised to find out that aliens were real, you were always asking questions about me, trying to get closer, scoping me out - did I get in the way of your plans, is that it? You also tried to save the Nestene Consciousness, I'm assuming taking out the planet was part of your plan-"

She quickly interrupted him. "If that were the case, then why would I have saved you? The Consciousness could've just finished you off for me!"

"I saw the way you reacted when you saw the TARDIS. You were completely fascinated, you saw it and thought you could make a fortune off of it or maybe even better your space hopping technology." He provided, glaring coldly at the device strapped to her wrist. "Shall I continue? Alright, then. Once we landed here, you helped ensure that everything would fall into place, kept my trust to keep an eye on me. It all made sense the second you disappeared with Cassandra. You had it all planned out. Using the psychic paper to appear as the princess, giving a valid reasoning for teleporting out as well, but did you really think I would be that thick?!"

His rant came to an end and she could tell that he was fuming though she thought she saw something else lingering in his eyes. The tears had long since overflowed and she found herself full of anger and betrayal. It was irrational that she was so deeply hurt when she'd only known this man for about two days, but she couldn't help the emotions.

DOCTOR'S POV

He opened his mouth to continue, but before he could, he found his head snapping to the side and Phoenix's glare on him, the burnt skin on the hand she'd slapped him with splitting and releasing blood to flow down her hand.

"Apparently, you _are_ that thick." She snapped, meeting his glare head on. "I'm not a Time Agent, I'm not plotting against you, I'm certainly not plotting with Cassandra. She just tried to have my head chopped off because she believes that I'm this Princess Adonnen. I would never hurt people for money! Anyone who kills for money with these elaborate schemes that I'm apparently capable of is a coward and would never stay near a potential threat. Not to mention, how could I have possibly known that you would have pyschic paper or that I would have to use it instead of you? How could I have known that we would wind up here? Why would I have saved Jabe? If I was in it for the money, then I could still get some if I let as many die as possible before the station was stabilized. Why would I let a threat survive if I'd been abandoned by the person I was working with?! Why would I do any of this?! Why would I choose here of all places to enact my plans?! Why would..."

He felt doubt filter into him as a sob escaped her lips. He'd been so sure. How else could she know what she did? Could she really be that observant? Why else would she care about his well-being? It had all made sense earlier. SHE had finally made sense to him earlier.

But now, hearing her sobs as she turned and hurried away, he couldn't help that maybe he'd made his conclusions too quickly. Or was this just an act to gain his trust again? Well, there was only one way to be sure, he concluded, following after the brunette. Time to wrap this up.

PHOENIX'S POV

By the time, they got back to the main deck, she'd managed to stop sobbing and only had a few tears dripping down her face. There were charred crisps littering the crowd of aliens, the ones who'd survived were mourning their losses. Nearly everyone had lost someone. Her eyes settled on a sight that gave her a slight bit of relief from the situation. Rose was standing not too far from her and was observing everything.

Phoenix came to a stop beside the blonde and watched the Doctor pass her, his entire form radiating anger. Would people forever blame her for things that she was completely clueless on? First Rose, now the Doctor. Why was it that everyone seemed to think that she was a terrible person?

"You alright, Rose?" She wondered softly, turning away from the carnage around her. The blonde looked at her and nodded, the normal malice absent from her eyes before she turned to look at the Doctor, sorrow lingering in her gaze.

The Doctor had made his way over to the trees who were tending to Jabe's wounds, they exchanged brief words before he headed back over to Rose and Phoenix.

"You alright?" Rose wondered, her voice caring.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said, anger in his tone as his gaze settled on Phoenix. "I'm full of ideas. I'm bristling with them." He turned away from Phoenix and she felt Rose's confused gaze on her as more tears fell down her cheeks.

"Idea number one: teleportation through five thousand degrees needs some kind of feed. Idea number two," his gaze settled on the ostrich egg that Cassandra had brought and he headed over to it. "This feed must be hidden nearby." He broke the egg open and revealed a small silver device about the size of his palm. "Idea number three: If you're as clever as me then a teleportation feed can be reversed."

He twisted the device and Cassandra's voice sounded as she slowly appeared before them. "Oh, you should have seen their little alien faces." She paused as she saw the Doctor. "Oh."

"The last human." The Doctor greeted with disgust lacing his words. Phoenix glared at the trampoline and bit her tongue to keep from shouting at her. That would only feed the Doctor's belief that she'd help cook up this plan.

"So, you passed my little test, bravo." Her tone was nervous. "This makes you eligible to join, um, th-th-the Human Club."

Phoenix grimaced in disgust. That was her excuse? Human Club?

"People have died, Cassandra. You murdered them." The Doctor's tone was steely.

"It depends on your definition of people, and that's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries." Cassandra rebutted, glaring at them.

"You're disgusting and you've perverted what it means to be human. There's no humanity left in you!" Phoenix shouted, fury filling her at Cassandra's nonchalancy about the people she'd murdered.

Cassandra seemed to finally notice the brunette and surprise and anger filtered into her eyes. "Why aren't you dead? I ordered my men to kill you after I beamed you on board my ship!"

"Doesn't it even bother you that you're capable of killing so easily?!" Phoenix demanded, appalled at the trampoline's words.

"Take me to court, then, Doctor," Cassandra muttered, turning from Phoenix. "and watch me smile and cry and flutter-"

"And creak?" The Doctor interrupted, his eyebrows rising. And Cassandra was indeed creaking, Phoenix realized.

"And what?"

"Creak. You're creaking." The Doctor pointed out, a humorless smile on his lips. Phoenix stared in horror as Cassandra's veins became more prominent, the blood rushing faster through them as her eyes became bloodshot.

"What? Ah! I'm drying out! Oh, sweet heavens. Moisturize me, moisturize me! Where are my surgeons? My lovely boys! It's too hot!" The fear in her voice forced Phoenix to shove her anger to the side. Who would miss her? Was there anyone? Cassandra had brought this on herself, but if Phoenix let her die without at least trying to help, then that would make her the person the Doctor had accused her of being about five minutes ago.

"You raised the temperature." The Doctor stated, his tone cold. Phoenix glanced at him as he straightened, appearing to be steeling himself. Though his tone held no warmth, she could tell that he didn't enjoy what was happening. He didn't want this to happen anymore than she did.

"Have pity! Moisturize me!"

Phoenix moved to the Doctor's side, her eyes pleading. "Help her."

"Everything has its time and everything dies." He told her, the slightest tremor in his voice as his body shook with emotion. Phoenix didn't think that most would even notice it unless they were studying him as closely as she was. She needed to know that he was the person she'd thought him to be, that he wasn't so black and white as he'd appeared to her in the maintenance area.

"I'm too young!" Cassandra cried, her eyes now completely full of blood. A moment later, her skin stretched, becoming tighter and tighter until it exploded, bit of skin and blood flying everywhere. Phoenix had to wonder how much it had hurt and she found herself hoping that it hadn't hurt too badly.

She glanced at the Doctor, contemplating his actions. Why wouldn't he help her? It couldn't simply be for the reason he'd provided. Did he just not have a way to help her? It seemed plausible since it had been mere moments after Phoenix had requested him offer Cassandra assistance that she died. But then why would he make it seem like he didn't care? Something was missing, she realized. A crucial piece of the puzzle that was the Doctor.

The Doctor glanced at her briefly before walking away, leaving her and Rose standing there. Rose followed soon after. He'd tried to keep his uncaring manner, but as he turned the corner, she saw his shoulder's slump forward. It hadn't been an easy act on his part. So why punish himself by leading people to believe that it was?

Shaking a little from exhaustion, she headed over to the Face of Boe. "Why did you give this to me?! Why did you trick me?!"

 _It was necessary_. He told her, his tone sorrowful. The voice in her mind, caused her headache to come back full force and she groaned, bringing her hands up to cradle her head, but thinking better of it at the last moment.

"Why?" She demanded, glaring. "Why was it necessary to send me there? What were those people doing there?" _What was Owen doing there_ "Was it a trick?"

 _The next time we meet you will get your answers, but for now you must be patient and trust that I mean the best for you._ He told her, his eyes begging with her. _I know that it will be difficult for you to trust me, but you will grow to do so. Once we meet for the first time._

With that, he was teleported away, the device on her wrist also disappearing. Anger at his elusiveness and vagueness flooded her and she set off to find the Doctor and Rose, tears falling again as her head ached and her hands stung.

"Phoenix." A voice stopped her and she turned to see Jabe and the other trees walking over with the blanket. "You saved my life and for that we would like to thank you, as well as return this."

One of the older trees reached over and gently took her hands, his roots growing over them. She hissed at the sting of it, but upon seeing the reassurance in Jabe's eyes she didn't pull away. After a moment, the pain started to subside, until there was no trace of it. When the tree pulled his roots back, she was surprised to see that there was no trace of the burns left. Just smooth skin that had a light tint of floral green to it. "How did...?"

"We have the capability to heal, though it does take a lot of strength, energy and focus." Jabe replied, smiling kindly as she placed the blanket gently in Phoenix's arms. That was when Phoenix noticed that the burns that had covered Jabe's bark were gone.

"I would also like to give you this." The tree who hadn't spoken reached up behind his neck and pulled away a root that had a beautiful water drop hanging from it.

It looked like glass but as he handed it to her, she saw that there was actual water encased in it. It felt cool in her hand, soft and gentle, almost like she was running her hand through a pond.

"It holds water from our sacred pool and the root which it rests on came straight from out mother tree. It's a very sacred gift to our people and we can think of no other way to repay you for saving our sister's life. We are forever in your debt."

"I can't take this." Phoenix protested, but Jabe insisted, taking it from her hand and placing it around her neck. Upon being put there, the root tightened until it fit just right on her.

"It won't ever fall off and no one but those you allow can remove it." Jabe murmured, bowing her head slightly. "Thank you."

She nodded and watched as they left before turning to go search for the Doctor and Rose. Rose had seemed more forgiving earlier and Phoenix hoped that she would remain so. At least for the rest of the evening. The events of the day had completely exhausted her. The whole thing with Owen and then the Doctor. Everything had flipped over so quickly and easily. Or at least that's what it seemed like to her.

As she was passing by one of the window's she looked out and saw pieces of the Earth floating past. It was gone and no one had even been there to see it as they'd intended. Her planet was gone. She knew that it was five billion years in her future, but just the sight of it, made everything seem real. For the longest time, she'd been trying to stay in denial so she wouldn't be faced with the pain, but with the view before her, there was no escaping it.

Her mother was officially gone. The Earth where her body had been buried was just rubble now or incinerated. Everything that had ever remained of her mother was gone.

The sound of footsteps had her turning around and she sighed when she saw that it was the Doctor. She set her jaw and turned back around to look at the rocks that were floating past.

He came to a stop beside her and for a moment he just stood there, silently looking out at what was left with her. "Phoenix-"

"You know, this really puts perspective on things." She cut in, though she wasn't sure why. "The planet, I mean. It's just a bits and pieces now. What we all eventually become. Everything that it was is gone, everything that it held, all of the memories...just gone. Never to come back."

"From one perspective, yes." He responded and she could feel his eyes boring a hole through her head. "But eventually, it's all going to come back together to form a new planet, with new memories and new meaning. It'll be reborn."

"My mother's gone. She died about six months back, murdered." She looked at him, tears in her eyes again. "We can't ever recover those that we've lost."

He extended his hand to her and she could see his apology in his eyes. Slowly, she took his hand, accepting the olive branch he was extending. It wasn't completely forgiven, what he'd said, because it had hurt. It was painful to know that someone she hadn't known for long could come to the same conclusion that Rose had. And it was terrifying. If people could so easily believe her to be a monster, then were they seeing something she hadn't realized yet? Would she one day become cold and heartless?

"Come with me." He carefully led her back to the TARDIS where Rose was waiting. Even when they were inside, he didn't release her hand, if anything he held it tighter, offering whatever comfort he could as her sorrow tore at her heart.

When they landed, he led the two of them out. They were back in London, there were people around, living their lives. Phoenix dropped the Doctor's hand and moved forward a few paces. None of them even knew what might happen. They didn't know how this story ended. The story of the Earth.

"You think it'll last forever, people and cars and concrete, but it won't. One day it's all gone. Even the sky." He murmured, standing between her and Rose. "My planet's gone." The sadness in his voice had her reaching over to take his hand. He turned to her and she could see the tears he was fighting back. "It's dead. It burned like the Earth. It's just rocks and dust...before it's time."

That's why he hadn't wanted to answer Rose earlier, Phoenix realized. That's what was so painful for him to even think about. She couldn't even imagine the pain of that. He'd given them a glimpse at it by showing them the Earth's death, but they could still come home to it.

"What happened?" Rose asked, watching him as well.

"There was a war and we lost." He replied, anger and loss mingling in his tone.

"A war with who?" Rose wondered, but the Doctor didn't respond.

Phoenix took a deep breath and gripped his hand. "What about your people? How long...?"

"I'm a Time Lord. I'm the last of the Time Lords. They're all gone." He tried to sound nonchalant and unbothered, but Phoenix could practically feel the pain coming from him. "I'm the only survivor. I'm left travelling on my own 'cos there's no one else. A month now."

"There's me." She replied, wanting to stop his suffering. Give him something to hold onto. Rose echoed her sentiments.

"You've seen how dangerous it is. Do you two want to go home?" He wondered, looking between them.

Phoenix shook her head slowly. She did, but she didn't. It would mean facing Owen, who'd lied to her for who knows how long, facing the fact that her mother was gone, and as always dealing with her usually absent father. "I want to stay. With you."

He looked to Rose and raised his eyebrows in question.

She contemplated it before speaking. "I don't know...I want...to go see my mum for a bit. And we'll go from there?"

The Doctor looked a little sad, but he smiled at her and nodded. "Of course. Take your time."

Phoenix watched as Rose sprinted off, heading for her apartment since they were so close. How she missed knowing that she could just go visit whenever.

A squeeze on her hand had her turning to look at the Doctor. "I'm sorry for earlier."

"I know." She murmured, leaning her head on his shoulder. "It's fine."

Sighing, she pulled him forward, just walking down the street together. "I'm sorry. About your people and even though I can't understand the magnitude of it, I can understand what it's like to lose someone you care about. I wouldn't wish it on anyone."

He seemed as if he wasn't sure how to respond to her statement as tears shown in his eyes, one falling as he turned away from her. She left him be, holding his hand and offering what comfort she could.


	11. The Library

It took her a moment to orient herself after waking with a soft cry, tears falling down her cheeks as her breathing hitched on sobs. She'd had the dream again. Only it'd been different this time. The events that she remembered taking place in reality had no longer held the numb blanket she'd experienced. In their place remained a cold realization that her mother truly wasn't coming back. Instead of seeing the coffin as a sick joke, she saw it as a final nail in her heart.

Now as she lay in her room on the Tardis, the metaphorical nail had been ripped out, leaving her with a gaping hole that was spilling blood. She felt like she were drowning in it. The headache that was left over from earlier wasn't helping any either. She found herself unable to focus long enough to even think about composing herself. The overwhelming pain could've lasted hours or minutes before a soft presence in her mind slowly helped her work through it. She wasn't completely alright, not even close, but she was able to interact with the world around her. Exhaling shakily, she sat up and pulled a light cardigan on. It was light purple and trailed down to touch the back of her knees.

Wandering out into the quiet corridor, she thought back to the night before. Or was it the same night? After they'd left Rose to go see her mother, the two had simply walked together, both taking comfort in the understanding the other offered - though she was sure the understanding on her part was far less than on his - until she'd begun to show signs of her exhaustion. She'd attempted to hide it at first, but she was quickly learning that it was nearly impossible to hide much of anything from the Doctor. She'd texted Rose who'd asked if she could stay the night with her mother and then leave in the morning before the Doctor led her back to the Tardis, showing her to a room.

It was magnificent. The walls were similar to the ones in the console room and there was a large queen sized bed in the center of the room with bedding the same shade of blue as the outside of the ship. It was about twice the size of her room at home with a giant wardrobe and bathroom that was linked to it. The bathroom had an almost swimming pool sized tub with a shower and the main toiletries.

The best part of the room, however, was definitely the galaxy ceiling. The Doctor had told her that it showed the area of space they were currently near and the lighting could be adjusted if necessary so she didn't wake with a giant supernova burning her retinas. It was perfect. It helped make her feel closer to her mother who'd taught her all the constellations when she was younger.

Shrinking away from thoughts of her mother, she slowly came to the realization that someone was crying out. It was quiet and irregular, but she was definitely hearing it. The only one on the ship besides herself though was the Doctor. Was something wrong?

Following the sound, she quickly found herself outside a door with strange symbols engraved on it. It was a bunch of circles and gears that made her unbearably curious, but upon hearing another whimper from behind the door she pushed the thought away. Her hand hovered over the door knob as she bit her lip, wondering if he would find it intrusive of her to go in.

Before she could think on it too long, a crash to her left had her quickly turning in fear. There was nothing there from what she could tell, but nonetheless, she waited a few moments to see if the noise would repeat itself. The Doctor had assured her that the ship was safe, that nothing could get through the doors without his say so. Then what had caused the crash?

Shaking herself, she turned back to the door, chalking it up to her imagination. It was just her nightmare getting to her, she reasoned. She grasped the doorknob and pushed it open, peering into the room, only to roll her eyes at herself as she walked in and turned the TV off. Some stupid horror film had been playing. Exiting the room, she found herself wandering the ship, too keyed up to go back to sleep. Briefly, she wondered if the Doctor was asleep or if he even slept. After all, he was an alien, so how was she to know. Maybe he had to eat copious amounts of brussel sprouts or something or went into some weird trance.

She sighed and shook the thoughts from her head as she entered the next room she came to. Why they were all so spread out, she didn't know, but the sight that greeted her had her jaw literally dropping open. Thousands and thousands of books lined shelves that stretched up to the tall ceiling. It was so high, that she couldn't actually see the tops of the giant bookcases. Slowly, she edged further into the magnificent room, taking in it's splendor. The ceiling was bright with a golden glow as if from the sun and a glance up ahead of her showed some type of birds flying up high.

A smile spreading across her face, she hurried over to one of the shelves, running her fingers along the spines of some of the books. Some were new, some were old, some were...circles? Her brow furrowed a bit in confusion as she smiled a bit at the strangeness before continuing into the room. This was perfect. Now she could research anything that came up, after all a library this big had to have books on pretty much anything she could think of.

"Though how could I ever hope to find anything in here?" She mused aloud, looking towards the tops of the shelves. How would she even get up there if she needed one of those books? Maybe it wasn't so perfect, after all. Her bad mood coming back, she sighed and turned around only to walk through a holographic square that made a loud beep as she passed through it.

Eyes wide, she hurried back over to it, frantically looking it over as she prayed she hadn't somehow broken it. How did it get there though? It hadn't been there when she'd entered the library. She chewed her lip and shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she debated on what she should do. If it were broken, she really didn't want the Doctor to find out that it had been her. Especially after what had happened at the station.

She'd told him that it was fine, but she'd also said that several of the things Rose had said and done were fine. It didn't change how much it hurt. She was willing to forgive them, but she couldn't just immediately trust that something like it wouldn't happen again.

Sighing, she tapped the screen gently and with a small hum it brought up what appeared to be an index. She groaned a little, beginning to scroll down. "This is going to take forever."

Before she could do anything else, the screen suddenly glitched, making her quickly pull her hand back. She was just wondering if she really had broken it when the screen cleared, now with just a large search bar in the middle of it. Tilting her head to the side, she reached behind her to pull on a piece of hair as she bit her lip, thinking about what to search. There was so much she wanted to know. She could look up the Time War, though she wasn't sure how the Doctor would feel about that. Maybe she should wait till they were on terms of trusting one another instead of accusing each other. There was Tardis, Timelord, Psychic Paper...

Thinking back to the recent events, she found her fingers typing out what she hoped was an accurate spelling as the need to figure out what had happened during her last and sort of first adventure with the Doctor.

"Princess Adonnen. 1.5 volumes, 12.2 articles." An electronic voice suddenly rang out, startling her. She frowned as shelf numbers slid across the screen. How could there be 1 and essentially a half volume? What happened to the other half? Frowning at how little there was, she searched Psychic Paper.

"Psychic Paper. 50 volumes, 250 articles." Sheesh, why so many?

She nodded for a moment, wondering how she would ever remembering all of the shelf numbers when a print button popped up. She hesitantly pressed it and watched as the screen spit out a receipt with the shelves and corresponding volumes/articles listed from first to last. Nodding to herself, she turned to face the rest of the room, wondering how she was going to find and reach the shelves. Maybe the screen would know.

Turning back around, she was surprised to see that it had disappeared. So she hadn't just missed it when she'd walked in, she thought with pursed lips as she ambled through the shelves, looking for a ladder of some kind. The idea of climbing so high wasn't appealing, but she was willing to do it, if it meant finding answers. Yeah, it probably sounded crazy, but she was very driven by her need to solve and learn things.

"Well, there's no ladder." She murmured aloud after searching for about ten minutes. "How am I going to get up there?"

She turned to look for some other method, jumping a little when she found a small flat metal contraption hovering near her. Was this like a voice intercom type thing, she wondered with a small smile. 'Interesting. So if I were to ask for a swimming pool...?"

She trailed off as she looked around, now spotting a pool in the middle of the room. She couldn't help but laugh with excitement as she turned back around to the metal, stepping up on it. Metal railings slowly rose from the floor of the strange contraption before locking into place around her. Once finished, the slab started to rise. It was almost like a fair ride, she thought with a large grin as it flew through the many shelves of the library, going high enough that she could touch the cloud looking things in the sky.

Too soon, the contraption came to a halt, hovering near one of the shelves while a button appeared on the railing. It read 'Start' so she was assuming that this would be for when she'd gotten the book she was looking for. Grinning like a fool, she let her fingers trail on the spine of the books until she found the volume on Princess Adonnen, plus the other half volume. Now she could see why it was only half a volume. It had been torn horizontally in half. She couldn't help but wonder why as she reached forward to pull the books out.

It didn't budge and she huffed a bit in annoyance. What use was that?! It led her to the books, had all of these books and yet she couldn't take them out? Frustrated, she threw her hands up, running her hands through her hair as she thought on how to get the books. Just when she was about to start figuring out how to get down so she could just leave a loud crack sounded, startling her as she brought a hand up to muffle her shriek. Glancing at the book, she saw that there was now a list of places that were engraved on a piece of wood that had suspended from underneath the book.

Pool, Astronomy Tower, Garden...

Biting her lip, she cautiously pressed the engraving labeled pool, jumping again as the books she'd been reaching for suddenly just dropped into a suspending crate, she hadn't noticed a moment ago before being whisked off in what she thought was the direction of the pool. Smiling again at how amazing this library was she turned back to the 'Start' button and pressed it, being whisked away through the library again. When she'd come to a halt again, she glanced down at her receipt, startled when she realized that the first books she'd grabbed now had green check marks beside them.

She shrugged and began touching the volumes she had listed, sending them to what she hoped was the pool since it would suck to have to go hunting for them later. She continued like that for about ten more minutes, finding all of the volumes she wanted and leaving the ones she'd decided against. Once all of the books on her list either had a check or an x next to the ones she'd left, she turned back to the buttons on the contraption, blinking when she realized there was now one labelled 'Return'. She pressed that one and found herself whisking back through the library, all the while giggling.

Unfortunately the ride ended too soon and she stepped off with a grin, watching as the contraption faded into the floor. She had a feeling that browsing for volumes would never be boring. That was definitely the most fun she'd had looking for a book. She spotted her books on a table...in the center of the pool. Frowning, she walked to the edge of the pool, wondering how she would get over there without having to go for a swim. Luckily, the books weren't getting wet as the table suspended over the water, but she found herself wishing, she'd sent them to the Astronomy Tower instead. She loved to swim and she loved to read, but she wouldn't want to ruin the books.

"Right." She murmured, glancing around at the walls of the library. "Any chance you could help me get out there without having to get wet?"

For a moment, nothing happened and she was going to start looking for a floaty, but thankfully a nice cushy chair appeared beside her as the screen and metal contraption had done so. She smiled and murmured a thanks as she hesitantly leaned back into the Tardis blue beanbag type chair. It might seem strange to be thanking what could just be programming, but she got the sense that the Tardis was far more. After all, the times she'd heard the Doctor speaking about it as she'd asked him questions on their walk, he'd given the impression of the Tardis being a she, plus she couldn't shake the feeling of something else being in the room with her or rather a part of the room. It wasn't a scary or uncomfortable feeling, it was rather the opposite.

As the chair hovered over to the table that had stacks of books on it, she found herself grinning, dipping her bare feet into the pool - which was surprisingly warm - before grabbing the volumes and setting to reading.

 **Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated in a while. :( I've had a lot going on and it kind of blocked my inspiration for this story. Also I was very conflicted on which way I wanted this chapter to turn. I decided on a more lighthearted chapter. Hope you like it!**

 **As for the question of Phoenix being a Princess...I can't answer that. The Psychic Paper introducing her as a Princess is important to the story, but I can't say if that's the reason why or not. Spoilers as River would say. I also want to thank everyone who has been reading this story. The next chapter has a twist that I really enjoy and I hope you all like it as much as I do!**

 **So as always, review and let me know what you think!**

 **Oh, does anyone know how to insert page breaks on this site? I can't seem to figure it out and I feel like it'd be less confusing for you guys if I did that before of after my little author notes, plus in between scenes where I just jump from scene to scene.**


	12. Revelations and the Finniky TARDIS

When the Doctor found his brunette companion, he found her sprawled out across several books and papers. He was surprised to see a large swimming pool beside the table she had fallen asleep on. Why had the Tardis decided to stick a pool in a library? He shook his head for a moment, leaving it to the strangeness of his ship.

Curiously, he quietly walked over, glancing over the titles of the books Phoenix had been reading. Princess Adonnen? What was she doing looking that up? What was she planning?

He sighed at himself when the thought crossed his mind. Or, more likely, maybe she was just curious after the psychic paper had introduced her as the princess. He'd nearly lost her already because of his paranoia and she'd really given him no reason to doubt her. He needed to stop thinking as he did when he was in the war. It was time he learned the difference between the two realities again.

Nodding to himself, he rubbed his hands together before clasping them behind his back, smiling a little as he thought of what he had planned. He was hoping that it would make up for what he'd said and done to her.

He cleared his throat loudly, a tiny bit of guilt mixing with his already overwhelmed emotion center as she startled awake, looking around wide-eyed. His eyes narrowed as he took note of the fear in her eyes. He gave her a moment more to wake up and realize where she was before he tapped the book closest to him. "Bit of late night reading?"

"Uh..." She trailed off, glancing between him and the books before she hurriedly started gathering them up. "Sorry. I, uh...couldn't sleep last night so I decided to wander around and get a little more aquainted with the Tardis and her many passages. Well, I, uh, after turning off the movie you left on, I found the library. I didn't mean to intrude or anything."

He frowned, watching her carry a giant stack of books over to the book dispenser. "What movie?"

She turned back to him, biting her lip a little. "There was a horror movie on in one of the rooms. I didn't want the sound to carry and no one was in the room so I figured I should shut it off and well, it's just something you do. Conserve energy and electricity...though that might not be such an issue here. Anyways, I probably shouldn't have started messing with your stuff without asking first. It won't happen again."

He absently listened to her ramble on for a few more moments, trying to remember if he'd left a movie on or even watched a movie the night before, but he was pretty sure that he'd been reading a manual on the quantum physics of making toast before he'd gone to bed.

As his brunette companion brushed past him, he snapped out of his thoughts and followed after her. "Oh, that's alright. Love a good book, me. Feel free to read any of them anytime. Don't mind." He smiled at her. "In the meantime, I had something I wanted to show you."

His companion watched him warily for a moment, tugging on a lock of her hair before she nodded slowly. "Alright. Lead the way, then."

Beaming at her, he hurried back down the corridor, leading her to the door that had been designated her room. He had intended to wake her with the surprise, but had to improvise when he realized she wasn't in her room.

"So, I usually don't do domestics, but I figured I owed you." He paused, swallowing back the disgust that rose as he thought of the way he'd treated her. "I'm truly sorry for the way I acted. I had no right to think or say those things about you."

She seemed to be weighing his words carefully, biting her bottom lip.

"I hope this helps make it up to you." He continued, smiling softly at her. She raised an eyebrow at him before warily walking into the room.

Her arms instinctively flew up as a mass of black fur was suddenly flying at her. After a moment to get her bearings, she realized that it was Triton. Her cat. Her eyes widened and she cradled the animal closer to her as he began to purr, rubbing his head against her cheek.

"Triton...I'm so sorry. I didn't even think to bring you along." She placed a gentle kiss on the animal's head before turning to the Doctor. "Thank you. So much."

She turned back to Triton, petting him gently before walking into the room, leaving the door open as the Doctor followed. Carefully, she set the cat down on the bed, noticing the new additions to her room. A litter box, food bowls, toys and a cat food dispenser had been added. Purring louder, the cat hopped down from the bed and headed straight for the full food bowl.

"So, when did you get him?" The Doctor wondered, leaning against the wall across from her bed.

"Well, my Mom got him, actually. About a month before she...Anyway, after she wasn't around anymore, I took him in. I can't believe I didn't even think. Are you sure it's okay? Me having him on board?" She really hoped that it was actually okay, because now that she'd realized her mistake, she didn't want to part from her feline friend.

The Doctor's grin suddenly dropped as Triton meowed at him from over by the food. "Well, according to Triton, he would be getting rid of me before I could get rid of him." He paused, looking at her sadly. "And I want you to know how truly sorry I am. So, yes, I'm sure it's okay."

Phoenix frowned, glancing over at the cat before looking at the Doctor. Was he joking? Or was he seriously telling her that he could understand her cat? Deciding, she would address that later she nodded in appreciation to the Doctor. "Alright, then, thank you...Again."

"No problem." He pushed away from the wall and headed for the door. "Me and Rose are ready to go when you are, just meet us at the console."

"Actually, about that, Doctor..." She started, watching as the alien turned to her, his eyes confused and expectant. "I think I'm going to sit this one out."

The Doctor stared at her for a moment and the sadness and guilt in his eyes almost had her changing her mind. Almost. During her reading the night before, she'd pretty much been avoiding thinking about all the things that she really did need to address before her problems grew to be unmanageable. She had to think about what she was going to do about Owen, think about what her decision to travel with the Doctor really meant, and she also had to organize and piece together everything she'd learned from the books and articles, which wasn't much to be honest.

Basically, the princess had been lost. No one apart from those on the planet had ever seen her, therefore it was nearly impossible to seach for her. According to the articles, no had ever been able to figure out where or when she had disappeared. One night, she was just gone. No trace left.

"Alright then." The Doctor nodded, forcing a smile. "Just one thing before I leave then. Hand me your cell."

She frowned but did as he said, watching as he dismantled it and zapped it with the sonic before handing it back to her. "This way Rose and I can contact you if we need you."

Biting her lip, she nodded, accepting the phone with a quiet murmur of thanks. "I'll, uh, meet you out there in a few minutes then? To see you guys off."

He grinned a little sadly at her again before leaving her in her room, closing the door quietly behind him. Sighing, she stood and crossed the room to the closet, cautiously opening it. She wasn't really surprised when she found that it was full of clothes, but she was a little curious about how they were all in her size. Glancing around at the ship, she had to wonder again if it were sentient. If so, it would explain a lot and then give her a whole new list of questions.

Pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind, she grabbed the first items she saw that would match. The outfit she wound up with was a pair of black shorts that went to mid-thigh, a white tank top with a TARDIS blue button up T-shirt over top, and a pair of TARDIS blue converse. She quickly pulled a brush through her hair, deciding to just let it stay loose before she gave Triton a brief pet and headed for the console room, closing her bedroom door behind her.

As she walked, she curiously listened to the humming of the Tardis, letting her fingers trail along the wall. She wasn't entirely sure of which direction she was going, but it felt like the right way. There was a small, guiding presence in the back of her mind. It felt like the one that had comforted her last night after she'd had her nightmare. The presence was so soothing and safe that she couldn't find it in her to feel anything but a curiosity towards it, even though she supposed it should have worried her. At least a little.

Quite suddenly, the Tardis began to shake as it started to travel, taking them somewhere new. She casually leaned against the wall, surprised to find a railing where one hadn't previously existed, but thankful as she held on tightly. As the Tardis landed, she was thrown to the floor, but besides being a little winded, she was fine. Smiling a little, she climbed to her feet, noting that the railing was gone before she continued on her way, walking a little faster this time.

After another minute, she could hear Rose's voice echoing down the hallway. "Except for you...You can go back and see days that are dead and gone, a hundred, thousand sunsets ago." Phoenix rolled her eyes a little and sighed as she heard the flirtatious note in Rose's voice. "No wonder you never stay still."

"Not a bad life." The Doctor half stated, half questioned. Phoenix quietly rounded the corner into the main room, watching as the Doctor stood with his arms crossed, Rose smiling at him from where she was leaning against the console.

The Doctor's back was to Phoenix and the brunette suddenly found Rose's gaze on her before the blonde turned back to the Doctor, smiling wider. "Better with two."

Phoenix sighed, leaning back against the wall. And there it was. Rose was staking her claim to the Doctor, though Phoenix didn't really know why she felt the need to. The Doctor was an alien and there might be laws or something, preventing such a mingling between species. There was no telling wether they were even compatible. Yeah, the Doctor looked human, but that didn't mean that everything was the same and really all they'd seen of him was his face, neck and hands. They knew nothing of his customs, not to mention the blonde shouldn't be staking any claims on anyone. She had a boyfriend.

If Rose felt like Phoenix had taken something from her, then she guessed whatever it was must have been pretty important for this kind of reaction. Did she think she'd stolen a boy from her or something? There had only been a handful of guys that Phoenix had even taken an interest in and they'd all been more interested in Rose, so there hadn't even been a chance for Phoenix to steal any of them from the blonde. However, she couldn't come up with any other reason that Rose would be acting this way towards her, despite being in a relationship. Honestly, the blonde was being quite stubborn about holding this grudge.

The Doctor seemed to stiffen a little, but when he spoke, he still sounded cheerful. "Even better with three."

Phoenix watched Rose's face fall a little, but the blonde quickly recovered, bounding down the ramp. "Come on!"

"Oi, hey, hey, where'd you think you're going?" The Doctor demanded, whirling around to stare incredulously at the blonde as Phoenix pushed away from the wall, walking up to stand beside the Doctor.

Rose turned to face him, still beaming. "1860."

"Go out there dressed like that, you'll start a riot, Barbarella!" The Doctor replied, shaking his head at her. Phoenix had to wonder who Barbarella was as the Doctor pointed down the hallway. "There's a wardrobe through there. First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on your left." Phoenix and Rose both blinked at the Timelord. He just continued talking. "Hurry up!"

Rose glanced down at her outfit and then at him before hurrying up the ramp and heading down the hallway he had motioned too. Though Phoenix wasn't sure how long it would take her to find the wardrobe with as many directions as the Doctor had given her and how quickly he'd done it. She herself didn't remember most of the instructions and definitely not in the right order. Something about stairs, bins, and the first left.

She turned to the Doctor just as he smiled after Rose and she couldn't help but grin back at him. "You do realize that most people aren't going to retain all of those instructions the first time you give them, right? Or, well, I guess the proper term would be 'humans' not people. Anyways, she's probably going to get lost, unless the TARDIS is going to help her, that is."

She was hoping that her casual implication of the ship having sentiency would make him inadvertently confirm or disprove her suspicions. Nonchalantly, she began walking around the console, brushing her fingers across the controls.

"Ah, she'll get it. Eventually." The Doctor answered, shooting her a hesitant grin. "TARDIS will help if she likes her. Always a bit finnicky, this ship."

"So, she is sentient, then?" Phoenix inquired, coming to a stop beside the Doctor, having walked around the entire console. She leaned back against it, crossing her legs at the ankles and tilting her head at the Doctor with a small smile. "Or at the very least alive?"

He glanced over at her, mimicking her position. "You are quite observant, aren't you?"

"Does that mean I'm right?" She pushed gently, looking around the room.

"Yes, you are." He responded, watching her carefully with a more relaxed smile. "She's alive and quite sentient. She can't talk, the way you and me do, but she still manages to get the message across. Most of the time, anyhow."

Phoenix turned to look at him, biting her lip before turning to look at the doors of the Tardis. "I hope you aren't upset about me staying. It isn't that I don't want to go, because I do. Whatever adventure you've parked us at, whatever lies on the other side of that door, it fascinates me. I don't think I'll ever get tired of such a thing, not until there's nothing more to learn from it. But..." She took in a deep breath before turning back to him. "...everything that happened yesterday on that space station...well, it gave me..a lot to think about." She exhaled with a small chuckle. "Not just what happened between us, but everything. Princess Adonnen, the Face of Boe and whatever the thing he put on me was, Rose's-"

"Hang on." The Doctor cut her off, his smile gone and replaced with what almost looked like anger and confusion. "The Face of Boe gave you that manipulator?"

"Yeah, he said he wanted to talk to me or rather the princess, he told me to put it on, that it would insure we weren't eavesdropped on, and then I was...somewhere in Cardiff. I'm not sure when."

"You willingly put it on?" The Doctor demanded, a little bit of suspicion entering his eyes again. "What for?"

"Well, that was a mistake on my part. He said that he knew you and, well, you were okay with leaving Rose and I on our own to mingle with the aliens, so I figured that if there was any danger that you would've said." She responded, a little worried about him being suspicious of her again. "It was naive for me to think, but can you blame me? It isn't like I do this kind of thing everyday. It was all new and it took me a moment to realize that Earth logic doesn't necessarily and _can't_ necessarily apply everywhere. Don't worry, I won't be making the same mistake again."

The moment he felt the suspicion, he shoved it to the back of his mind. It was good to be wary, but considering the trouble he'd already caused himself, he figured in this case, it would be better to be a little more open-minded. So he listened as his brunette companion explained what had happened and where she'd gone wrong, promising that she wouldn't make the same mistake.

He was about to respond, when the console suddenly sparked, causing Phoenix to startle and skitter away from it. "What the...? What was that?"

Frowning, he looked around, ducking below the console to see where the sparks were coming from before smiling back at Phoenix. "Nothing to worry about. Just some loose wiring. Care to give me a hand?"

He watched as a delighted smile came on her face and she practically skipped over, kneeling beside him as he pulled up a piece of grating. Grinning back at her enthusiasm, he hopped down, moving to inspect the wiring as Phoenix hopped down after him. Spotting the problem quickly, he frowned. That was unusual. It appeared that the wire just popped off. No reason for it, but thankfully, it would be an easy fix.

"Right then," He started, glancing at Phoenix before grabbing the wires and lifting them up. "Hold these like this. Won't take more than a mo."

She nodded and took the wires from him, holding them still as he got the sonic out. "So, while we're here. What's this thing between you and Rose?"

The brunette turned to him sharply, her mouth open in surprise. After a moment, she cleared her throat and turned her attention back to what he was doing with the wires. "You caught that, huh?"

He had to admit, he'd been a little thick about it at first, but Rose's comment about two being better had cemented it for him. His senses had picked up on Phoenix as soon as she'd entered the console room behind him and he hadn't missed the way Rose had glanced behind him before making that statement. Though the blonde probably had her reasons, the Doctor needed to know if it was going to be a problem. Having companions that fought all the time didn't sound like a grand time to him.

He nodded at Phoenix, finishing up with the wires, but continuing to tamper with things, instructing the brunette in what to do. The actions of working seemed to have relaxed the tension she'd had in her shoulders ever since she'd entered the room. He wasn't even sure that she'd been aware of it.

He watched as she took a deep breath, shaking her head. "I don't even know what her issue is. All I know is that, ever since the beginning of high school she started to distance herself from me and then about two years ago, she shut me out completely. Could never get her to tell me why, though from what she said to me back at the end of the world, she thinks I took something from her. No idea what though."

The Doctor frowned at that, turning the sonic off and leaning back against the grating. However, before he could continue talking to her about it, he heard the sounds of footsteps coming. Well, maybe he could learn more from Rose. It would seem she was causing most of the tension between the two girls. She had to have a reason. She was certainly the most antagonistic from what he'd seen.

"Blimey!" He exclaimed, looking up at his blonde companion. She had dressed in a deep magenta dress with a black cloak over top. Her hair was drawn back neatly and she looked rather pretty.

"Don't laugh." The girl instructed, smiling widely and chuckling.

"You look beautiful." He informed her, trying to soften her up a bit with a compliment. He turned back to Phoenix, turning the sonic back on some wires. "Considering."

"Considering what?" Rose asked, a little offended.

"That you're human." He replied before ducking back down with a grin as he helped Phoenix finish up with the wiring. Phoenix turned to look up at Rose as she finished helping the Doctor repair the loose wiring.

The girl seemed a little stunned and thrown by the Doctor's indifference to her flirting and dressing up. "I think that's a compliment. Aren't you gonna change?"

"I've changed my jumper." The Doctor protested, though Phoenix knew for a fact that he hadn't since he'd been talking with her the whole time. The timelord moved to pull himself out of the grating. "Come on."

"You. Stay there. You've done this before." Rose ordered, making her way around the console as the Doctor helped Phoenix out. "This is mine."

Phoenix and the Doctor watched as she hurried down the ramp and opened the doors, peering out. Phoenix couldn't help but smile as she watched her.

"You don't seem too upset about how she's been treating you." The Doctor commented quietly.

Phoenix turned to him, nodding. "I can't say that I enjoy it, but I remember how things used to be between us. Whatever I've done or whatever she thinks I've done...it must've been pretty bad to have her this upset at me still. I'm hoping that we can get past it once I figure out what the problem is. Jealousy or whatever this thing is with her, isn't all she's capable of. She has a big heart and is actually a pretty compassionate and kind person once you get past everything else."

He nodded. "Right, then. Sure you don't wanna come with?"

Phoenix nodded. "Yeah. Go on. Have fun. Who knows, maybe without me hanging around she'll be able to work through whatever her problem is."

"See you later then." With that, the Doctor turned and followed after Rose, closing the door behind him.

"Yeah. See you." With that, she sighed and headed back to the library.

Being surrounded by so many books, she couldn't help the smile that spread on her lips. This was definitely her favorite room so far. Maybe some fun before dealing with all of the drama, she thought, setting her phone down on the table. "So, you amazing and beautiful girl," As she said this, she stroked one of the pillars that were in the room. "Do you maybe have a radio or something that can play music?" She grinned as 'Here Is the News' by Electric Light Orchestra began playing all around her. She couldn't help but giggle as she went over to what she was calling the book logs. "How'd you know?"

Smiling, she began inspecting the overall program. It was pretty simple but also extremely complex. The interface was flexible, but there was just so much data to sift through. How would she decide what to read? Just like the night before the screen glitched and then she was met with a list of languages. Nodding, she selected English. A list of subjects popped up; Engineering, Space, Mechanics, Math, Fiction, Famous Authors, etc.

So, what did she want to do? Thinking back to what she'd just been doing, she grinned, settling on her choice. She keyed her search in and quickly got her receipt before heading off to get her books and one video. It was even more fun than before to zip around the library. The books she was looking for were further in and she found herself passing what looked like Truffula trees only with some vines hanging down with some weird shaped fruits. Peering closer, she realized that it wasn't fruit but books.

Too soon, she had gathered her books and was looking for somewhere to begin her work. "Okay, girl. Do you have a section to help me with what I have planned?"

Phoenix was answered with a hum and a popping noise. A glance in the direction revealed a small little cubby hole. She couldn't tell what was on the other side of it, but she decided that she didn't mind being surprised. The Tardis definitely had a personality, but Phoenix didn't think that she would hurt her. So, grabbing her cell phone and dragging her stack of books behind her in a small blue wagon the ship had provided her, she kneeled down and crawled into the room.

Surveying the room, she grinned. "It's perfect. Thanks, gorgeous."

After getting a hum in response, she made her way to the center of the room, sitting down and crossing her legs before getting to work. It would probably take her a while, but just the learning process would be worth it.

Feeling a little disoriented, Rose slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes and wincing a little at the headache she could feel coming on. Now what was going on? She remembered walking with the Doctor and then the theater. And then-She suddenly whirled around as a low groan came from behind her. Now wide awake, she watched as a sort of blue mist enveloped a man who was sitting up in a coffin.

Wide-eyed, she watched as he turned to her. "Are you alright?"

He didn't even blink as he started climbing out of the coffin, his movements stiff.

"You're kiddin' me, yeah?" She asked, her voice breaking a little as she leaned away from the man, starting to shake a little in fear. Where was the Doctor? "You're just kiddin'. You are kiddin' me, aren't ya?" As the man managed to fully hop out of the coffin, she really got scared, turning to hop off of the table she'd been put on. "Okay, not kiddin'."

Gasping in fear, she hurried to the door, tugging on the handle, but it was locked. Well, great. Now what? Phoenix would probably have already thought up about a dozen theories about what was going on here.

For a moment, she almost regretted driving the girl to stay behind. Earlier she had hoped that the brunette would just decide to go home, but now...well, she could be rather useful. And even she had to admit that she was being rather harsh. It wasn't even that she was still upset at her for what had happened, but if she decided to get over it then she would actually have to, well, apologize. Not to mention, the girl kept insisting that she had no clue why Rose was angry with her, so much so that Rose was beginning to think that maybe she didn't.

Hearing more groans behind her, she whirled around, more fear filling her as she realized that another zombie was rising up out of it's coffin. Quickly, she grabbed a vase, dumping out the flowers and tossing it at the pair before trying the door again. "Let me out! Open the door!"

It was exactly like it had been on the space station at world's end. She got knocked out and locked in a room where she was almost certain to die. The only difference was that the Doctor wasn't here to help. A few tears made their way into her eyes as she pounded on the door. They couldn't really leave her to die, could they? "Please! Please let me out!"

Terror continued to consume her as a glance over her shoulder revealed the two still approaching her. There had to be someone out there! She couldn't die in 1869! "Let me out! Somebody open the door!" She continued to pound on the door and try the knob, even though she knew it was useless. "Open the door!"

She startled and screamed as an arm wrapped around her head, a hand covering her mouth and nose, attempting to suffocate her. This was it, she realized. She was gonna die. Now she found herself wishing more than ever that she'd made up with her brunette friend. She still cared for her, even if she was angry. They'd been like sister's once. And if she were here right now, then she would've been able to pick the lock or something. But now it was over.

The tears in her eyes began to fall at the thought and she continued to struggle as she was pulled back into the room. Oh, Phoenix. I'm so sorry, she thought. And Mickey, and her mum. They would never know what happened to her.

Suddenly, the door flew open and relief filled her as she saw that it was the Doctor. "I think this is my dance." With that, he grabbed her arm, shoving the zombie guy away from her and pulling her away from them as she gasped for air.

"It's a prank." A man said, his voice disbelieving. A glance over revealed that it was an older man with a long, light brown beard. "Must be. We're under some mesmeric influence."

"No, we're not. The dead are walking." The alien beside her said, surveying the two corpses before her. He turned to her with a grin. "Hi."

"Hi." She replied, feeling a little safer and hoping he didn't notice the few tears that had escaped. "Who's your friend?"

"Charles Dickens." The Doctor replied with a grin before turning back to the two inhabiting the room.

Rose nodded, a little thrown. Honestly, sometimes all of this felt like a dream. "Okay."

"My name's the Doctor. Who are you then?" He introduced himself, looking between the two who were now just standing there and staring. "What do you want?"

"Failing. Open the rift. We're dying." The man spoke, but there was a higher voice overlapping his. Almost like a child's. "Trapped in this form. Cannot sustain. Help us."

With that, Rose watched as they leaned their head's back and a blue mist flew from their mouths, a high-pitched scream accompanying it. The Doctor raised his eyebrows as the two corpses collapsed to the ground, now that the...whatever they were had left.

It had been about an hour and a half since the Doctor and Rose had left and Phoenix had managed to get all the pieces she would need together and organized on a section of the floor. The TARDIS had made a mat that labeled and showed every piece she would need. Kind of like with Lego sets.

Sighing, she decided she needed a break from looking through books and piles of parts. It was time to stop procrastinating, she thought, grabbing her phone and crawling out of her little hidey room. A curtain quickly fell down to conceal the door and she grinned, silently thanking the TARDIS.

Biting her lip, she opened her phone, going to her contacts and getting ready to call Owen. Before she could, however, he called her. She inhaled shakily, taking a moment before answering.

"Hello?"

"Phoenix?! Where the bloody hell are you?!" He demanded, causing Phoenix to startle, her eyes going wide. He'd never spoken this way to her. "Two years! Two years you've had me freaking out, not knowin' where you are! All I get is a note saying you're going back to your flat! I've been worried sick! Thinking you were dead or something! And then you just show up at the hospital?! Only to disappear a second later!"

Two years? She'd been gone for two _years_? It couldn't have been more than two days! Not to mention, she was in a time machine! So if she wanted it didn't even need to be more than 2 seconds!

She pushed her anger to the side for the moment, realizing that she should have at least called him. Made some sort of plan, in case something had gone wrong."Owen, look, I'm sorry, I couldn't-"

He quickly cut her off. "You know what, never mind all that. Just tell me where you are and I'll come get you. Alright, love?"

"Owen, I can't." She protested, running a hand through her hair and making her way to the console room. The Tardis hummed softly in what Phoenix thought was supposed to be support or comfort.

"Is someone keeping you? Did something take you?" She could hear him bite back tears before he spoke again. "Look, my boss, Jack, knows how to help with these things. We can get you back and keep you safe. Just tell me where you are."

She sighed, resting her head against one of the columns. "Owen, I'm fine. I'm safe. But I can't tell you where I am. Even if I could, you wouldn't be able to come get me. Look, just hang on a minute."

With that, she lowered the phone from her ear, looking at the doors of the Tardis. She didn't have that thing the Face of Boe had used to send her to Owen, though even if she did she wouldn't want to use it again. What did the Doctor call it? A vortex manipulater? Yeah, that sounded right.

Also, this wasn't something she particularly wanted to tell him over the phone. She was still enraged that he hadn't told her about his real job. They'd never kept secrets from each other. At least not these kinds of secrets. Yeah, there was stuff they didn't tell one another, but that was always small things.

Without anyway to get to him, things were just going to have to remain the way they were. As much as she hated it, they wouldn't be working things out tonight. Sighing, she put the phone back to her ear. "Okay, I'm back. I had to sort through some things. Now-"

"Seriously, love, just tell me where you are. My team is ready to go and everything. We just need a destination."

"Owen, just shut up for a minute and let me talk." She snapped, agitated. When he didn't respond she took a deep breath and continued in a calmer tone. "I will come see you soon. I just have some things that I need to finish up with where I am," And a Timelord to wait for, "Don't worry about me. I'm completely safe. I promise." She could hear him about to retort so she just sighed and hung up on him.

There was too much to deal with there at the moment. Two years? How could she have been gone that long? She hadn't even gone back yet!

Except she had, she realized, freezing. The Face of Boe had sent her back to Cardiff and she'd seen Owen, therefore she'd already been back. But two years in her future? Why would anyone do that? Two years of her life that she hadn't even been there for, just gone?

She was snapped out of her thoughts as the ship started shaking around. What the..? A glance towards the console showed that they were taking off. So, not only was she sentient, but she could fly herself? "Hey, um, girl. What are you doing? Where are we going?"

Or was something else flying the ship? The thought had her tensing as she looked around the room, holding onto the console until the ship stopped shaking. They'd landed, but where? She felt a small comforting nudge at the back of her mind and a hum that was concentrated by the doors.

Frowning, she hurried to the monitor, hoping to get an idea of where and when she was. On the screen was the entrance of...a pizza shop? She watched as a woman with dark hair and pale skin conversed with the guy working behind the counter. The two of them were in full view and Phoenix was shocked to realize she could hear their conversation.

"I don't suppose you deliver to a Captain Jack Harkness." The woman was saying.

Phoenix blinked, looking around at the ship. This couldn't be a coincidence. Owen had said that his boss was named Jack and now she was in front of a pizza shop with a woman asking for Jack Harkness? "Did you bring me here to talk with Owen?"

She got a warm hum from the TARDIS in response, which she decided to take as a yes. Turning back to the screen, she watched as the woman headed out of the shop, carrying a couple of pizza boxes. Right, then. Guess she should probably follow the woman and find out who this Jack was. Maybe Owen would be there. She didn't think the Tardis would mislead her. The ship seemed too warm and friendly. Not to mention knowledgeable.

She took a moment to pull her hair up into a ponytail, the tips of her hair brushing against the small of her back. "Alright, I will be back. Please don't leave me here. And if this is some kind of joke, then you will pay later...Somehow."

She put her phone in her back pocket and hurried out of the ship, closing the door behind her and shivering a little at the night air. The woman was just rounding the corner at the end of the street. Phoenix had been there several times, there was a small dock by the water and a little bench that she often sat at to just watch the water and the boats.

Shooting one last glance at the Tardis, she took a deep breath and hurried after the woman. She rounded the corner and just caught the door at the end of the dock closing. Sighing, she slowly walked down the dock, deciding to give the woman a little more time to do what she'd come to do.

Of course, the entrance to Owen's secret job would be right next to a spot that she enjoyed sitting at. Glancing around, she spotted a small camera perched up on the roof. This only caused her anger to build more. Odds were that the camera was for the establishment she was currently walking toward, meaning that he most likely knew that she liked to sit out on the bench and watch the water. All the times that he could've told her.

Owen was the one person she thought she could completely trust. She'd never really had friends throughout her life and after Rose had turned her back on her, Owen had been the only one left. The trust between them had been something that she highly valued and now she was finding out that it had, most likely, been misplaced. Apparently, she couldn't truly trust anyone. In fact, the ones she trusted most right now was the Tardis and her cat. How sad was that?

Sighing, Phoenix decided she'd allowed the woman enough time and headed into the building, closing the door quietly behind her. She'd walked in just in time to see a tall man in a suit disappear through a beaded curtain while what appeared to be a hidden door closed. Right, then. Time to do some sleuthing.

She took a moment to look around the room while she waited for her legs to defrost. There was a small desk that had tons of pamphlets and newspapers and just general papers on it, behind the desk there was a doorway with a beaded curtain in front of it. She could see some red file cabinets beyond that.

Phoenix sighed, grabbing a newspaper from the desk and checking the date.

2007\. Two years since she left. She sighed and tossed the paper back onto the desk, looking over at the spot that now appeared to be a wall instead of a door. How to open it? She was assuming that the man who disappeared into the backroom was probably the one to have opened it, since it was still closing as he left. Meaning that there was probably a button or a switch behind the desk.

Biting her lip, she rounded the desk and looked around. She didn't have to look long before she spotted a giant blue button on the wall. Rolling her eyes, she pressed it, heading for the hidden door as it opened again. Again, she took her time, not wanting to cause the woman who was obviously looking for them any problems. After all, she wasn't angry with _her_.

The brunette found herself in a dimly lit corridor that had a bit of a breeze blowing through it. There were large white lights fastened to the brick walls, the ground was made of concrete and in need of a sweeping, and to the right, she could see a large metal and probably electronic door.

Hesitantly, she approached, hoping that it would just open, but no such luck. Glancing through the small window, she could see that it was probably an elevator. She seriously doubted that going back was a good plan, since she didn't think Owen would willingly bring her into...whatever this place was. After all, he hadn't told her about all of this so, clearly, he didn't want her to know.

Her inquisitive nature getting the best of her, she fit her fingers into the small crease between the door and the wall and pulled. It was difficult, but she managed to open it an inch and then another and then another until she was able to carefully slip into the elevator, letting the door slide shut behind her.

Pleased with herself, Phoenix grinned and pressed the button to go downwards, leaning back against the elevator wall. Once stopped the doors opened and Phoenix quietly stepped out, walking forward carefully. Straight ahead, she could see what appeared to be a door that looked like a gear. It was wide open and through it she could see the oriental girl she recognized typing on a computer just beyond a double set of gates.

As she walked forward, she noticed a message on the wall. In very small, black writing it read 'This Staircase Has 105 Steps'. That was random, she thought, noting that the staircase obviously did not have 105 steps. More like three.

Once she was fully past the doors, she came to a stop, noting that the dark-haired woman was following the man who she'd pegged as the leader. Where, she wasn't sure, nor did she really care at the moment. She was sure that she would have several questions later, but with everything else on her plate it was more a side mystery for her.

No one seemed to have noticed her yet, so she figured there was no harm in glancing around. Looking to the right, she could see a welding area, a glass case that was full of guns, and-her eyes widened as she realized what she was looking at, having to do a double take. It was a hand! A human hand in a jar! And next to it in another jar was a head! Though she didn't think that one was human. Then again, the hand may not be either. After all, the Doctor looked human. Or did she look timelord?

Pushing those stray thoughts from her mind, she took note of the giant pillar in the center of the room, wires hanging off of it and reminding her of the TARDIS console. Around it were several layers of catwalks. A loud screech suddenly sounded, snapping her out of her observations.

"What was that?!" The woman who Phoenix had followed here demanded. Phoenix glanced up towards the sound and her heart skipped a beat. She wasn't sure, but it appeared to be a-

"Pterodactyl." The oriental woman nonchalantly answered from her seat at a very nice computer system that distracted Phoenix for a moment. She missed the set up she had at home, but the one she was looking at was gorgeous.

Shaking her head, she decided that the time for sneaking around was over and focused back on the inhabitants of the room, spotting Owen. Taking a deep breath, she casually bounded up the stairs and past the oriental woman before anyone could even notice her. He was peering intently at his screen, an open book in his hand as she abruptly hopped up on his desk, being mindful of the computer.

Owen startled and it took all of her willpower to keep her glare in place as she watched him drop the book in his hand. He didn't say anything, just stared at her with a shocked and surprisingly vulnerable expression.

"Don't move." Phoenix froze as she heard the sound of a gun cocking from behind her. Why did Owen work with people who had guns?! He was a doctor. Or that's what she'd thought.

She forced her expression to remain calm, even though she was truly terrified. A large part of her hadn't been too worried about coming here, since it was Owen. He was supposed to be safe, the person who helped stitch her up, physically and metaphorically. Now she had a gun pointed at her head and there was no doubt in her mind that the woman would pull the trigger if given a reason to.

"Whoa, whoa. Suzie, it's okay. Lower the gun." Owen quickly jumped into action, placing himself between Phoenix and the woman holding the gun. Shocked, Phoenix turned to look up at Owen. So he did still care. He still acted like her Owen, so then why didn't he tell her?

"How did you get in here?" The woman - Suzie - demanded, staring firmly at Phoenix.

Phoenix frowned, shoving her fear down. Owen knew these people so perhaps, the situation could be easily defused. After a moment, Phoenix realized that the woman was the one who had used that glove on John Tucker. She had the same curly hair, pulled back in a low ponytail and dark eyes.

"To be honest, it wasn't that hard." Phoenix answered, tilting her head to the side. "There was no one at your front desk, the button was in plain sight, your doors are wide open." She gestured back towards the gear door and the gate. "Honestly, the hardest part was pulling the elevator door open."

"Suzie! Gun down." A new voice suddenly ordered, startling Phoenix. She turned to see the leader, the one she was assuming to be Jack. He was followed by the woman Phoenix had followed. "Guess we should all get introduced. Dr. Owen Harper, Gwen Cooper."

"Ianto Jones. Ianto cleans up after us and gets us everywhere on time." Jack continued, gesturing to the tall man who had disappeared behind the beaded curtain in the front room.

Ianto smiled kindly at Phoenix and Gwen. "I try my best."

"And he looks good in a suit." Jack remarked, smirking.

Jack pointed to the Oriental woman before his employee could respond. "Toshiko Sato, computer genius." Phoenix had figured as much. "Suzie Costello, she's second in command. Hence the gun." He smirked flirtatiously at Phoenix. "And you are?"

"Why should I tell you that?" She demanded, hopping off of the desk and moving out from behind Owen, crossing her arms. "You have a hand and a head in a jar. Why should I tell you anything about me?"

"You came here for a reason. You want answers, you'll have to give some." He responded. "Here, I'll start. I'm Captain Jack Harkness."

She chuckled. "Already figured that one out. You'll have to give me new information. How about..." She deliberated for a moment before inspiration sparked. "Does the Face of Boe mean anything to you?"

Phoenix was going out on a limb, but she figured that the sooner she learned why the Face had sent her two years into her future, the better equipped she'd be to figure out the puzzle being presented. Perhaps the Face knew Jack and that was why he sent her. Jack tilted his head to the side, seeming a little confused.

He nodded. "Alright. It's an old nickname of mine. Now a name to call you by would be nice, otherwise I'll just have to start calling you princess."

She blinked at the new information, frowning. Really, how many people could have such a nickname? It wasn't exactly common. And the way he'd said that pet name. It was definitely similar to the way the Face had phrased it. Turning everything into some sort of line. But...he couldn't be the Face of Boe, could he? How could the man before her turn into a giant face?

"I'm Phoenix. Phoenix Smith." She finally murmured, glancing around the base casually as she stowed the new information away.

At this, the rest of the team, barring Gwen stared at her. Toshiko was the one to speak next. "Wait, you're the girl that Owen's been looking for? Where've you been?"

"That's a very good question." Owen said, seeming to get over his shock and staring angrily at Phoenix. "One I would like an answer to. Soon as you like."

Phoenix glared back at Owen. "Well, perhaps, I'll just keep my own secrets from now on. I mean, was anything you ever told me true?"

"Least, I didn't disappear off the face of the planet, love. Or disappear into thin air, quite literally!" Owen retorted, crossing his arms in front of him.

"I'm assuming you're upset that he didn't tell you about his promotion." Jack stated a little awkwardly, glancing between the two of them. "He didn't tell you because he had orders not to. No one else is supposed to know."

"Then why are you telling us their names?" Gwen suddenly piped up, walking closer to all of them and placing herself near the door. "If no one's supposed to know, then you shouldn't be telling us." She paused, glancing at Phoenix. "Whatcha gonna do to us? I mean, she's only what? Eighteen?"

"What do you imagine?" He asked her, grinning. Phoenix rolled her eyes at the suggestive tone in his voice.

"Well, I've seen too much. Your names and everything and the Weevil and...you can dump a man in the water and lie about his death." Gwen answered as Jack shrugged into a very large, very cosy looking coat.

Wait, what? Phoenix glanced at Owen and then to Toshiko. The man at the hospital, she realized. He must not have made it. They must have been covering up the alien involvement. It made sense. If anyone found out the truth, there could be panic amongst the masses, possibly followed by an alien hunt. Which also wouldn't be good.

However, at the same time, it was a very thin line. Once you got comfortable covering things up for the right reasons, it was easier to do it for the wrong reasons. The actions would be the same, but the reasons would be different. Frowning, Phoenix glanced between the occupants of the room.

"Okay," Jack said, walking back over to Gwen. "Tosh, finish that calibration tomorrow morning. Owen, first thing get a hold of Chandler and Bell, 'cause I think they're lying. Ianto, if he needs back up then you better be on stand by. Suzie, I know it's a pain in the ass, but I need the cossing on the glove research. And as for you," Jack turned to Gwen. "You're coming with me, this way."

Phoenix watched as Gwen moved towards him. Sighing, she leaned against the wall. "And what about me?"

Jack turned to her with a smirk. "Always needing answers. Just like I remember. You are going to go sit at my desk and before me and Gwen leave, we're gonna see if you can get into my computer. If you can, you can get your questions answered there. Just don't stay upset with Owen, because it isn't his fault and for the most part he didn't lie to you. I did."

Phoenix narrowed her eyes at him before striding over to his desk, sitting in his chair and flipping his laptop open. After all, she was never one to resist a challenge. She could feel that everyone was watching her, but she ignored that, focusing on the laptop instead. Should be a piece of cake, she reasoned, inspecting the make and model before turning to the keys.

"Alright, then. Let's see. Someone like you...you'll have more protection than just a simple password which should be easy enough to get through. Don't even need to figure it out. I could just bypass the mainframe with a handy piece of coding I wrote. This would also protect me from your drive wiping itself as soon as someone gets the password wrong." She glanced over at Toshiko, tilting her head to the side.

"You probably had your computer genius help set up your system, since you don't seem savvy enough to do more than a basic one at most, no offense. However, taking that into account and from the look of her own computer system, she probably leans more towards the Malantian's methods. Meaning, I can just..." She quickly typed in her coding to bypass the mainframe and then pressed the power button while holding down ctrl to circumvent her secondary defenses. "Then you just press enter, type in whatever password you want, say 'Torchwood', and voila. Complete access."

She turned to smile in success at Jack. He was smiling knowingly at her, chuckling before tossing her a small flashdrive. Toshiko looked stunned and a little impressed, while everyone else just stared at her. Jack nodded. "Go ahead and put everything on there and then come with me."

How could he have known how easy that would be for her? She wondered and he definitely did, she could just tell. Pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind for later, she quickly put the information on the drive, impressed by the speed. Pocketing the drive, she moved to follow Jack, stopping when Owen grabbed her arm.

"Please, just tell me. Where were you? How could you just leave me like that...for two years, without any kind of explanation?" He asked, his eyes angry, concerned, and a little tearful. "If you're in trouble, you know I'll help you get out of it."

She sighed and watched as Jack motioned for everyone else to leave, leading Gwen over to a slab of concrete and waiting. The look on Owen's face broke her. How was she meant to stay upset with him when she could see how sincere he was. It was the same as with Rose. Phoenix was hurt by the blonde's actions, but Phoenix couldn't find it in herself to truly stay angry. Besides, she had all the answer's now anyways.

Nodding, she carefully pulled out of Owen's grasp. "I'm not in trouble, Owen. Where I've been...I went willingly. I'll explain in more detail later, but trust me when I tell you that...for me, it's only been two days at the most. Not two years. I'm travelling. But I promise that I'm safe."

"So, what you're saying is that, you traveled in time?" He demanded, his eyes a little disbelieving, but she could tell that he wasn't completely shooting it down. She nodded, just as her phone rang.

Glancing at the caller ID, she felt shock as she realized it was Rose calling. "I need to go. Jack maybe next time you can show me around. For now, I have to go. Owen, I'll call you. And explain everything. Promise." She quickly pulled him into a hug, kissing his cheek before darting back out the doors and into the elevator.

As she waited for the elevator to rise, she picked up the call on her phone. "Hello?"

"Phoenix! 'Bout time you answered." It was the Doctor, she realized as the elevator came to a stop. Once the doors were open, she darted out, hurrying back up and through the hidden door that was open, having just let the others out. They turned in surprise as she rushed past. "First things first, where's my ship?"

The calm tones he was speaking in had her pausing briefly as she reached the time ship, carefully slipping in and shutting the door. After how he'd treated her previously when he was suspicious, she couldn't say she wasn't surprised at the sudden change. Why wasn't he yelling?

"Well...remember how I said I had some things to work out?" She inquired, barely having time to grab the TARDIS console before it was shaking around. "The TARDIS decided to help me out and take me to speak with a friend. On our way back now."

There was a long pause before the Doctor responded. "Right, then. Soon as you get here I need you to come to the coordinates I'm texting you. Something's gone wrong and I'm gonna need some help."

"What about Rose?" She inquired carefully, half checking to make sure the blonde was alright and curious why the Doctor specifically needed her help. He could be back to wanting to keep an eye on her or accuse her.

"Need more than just her." He replied before abruptly hanging up.

The TARDIS ground to a halt and Phoenix tucked her phone into her pocket, bringing the monitor around to see where they'd landed. They seemed to be in the same spot as before, but the Doctor wasn't outside as she'd expected. Frowning, Phoenix glanced over at the doors. He'd been wondering where his ship was, implying he'd noticed it was missing. So where was he?

"Right, then." She sighed, skipping over to the doors. "Time to go find him. I'm assuming that we're a little later than when he called?"

She reached out, grasped the handles and pulled, only to find that they wouldn't open. What the...? Glancing around at the ship, she tried one more time, though she figured it would be the same result. The TARDIS didn't let her down as the doors once more remained shut.

"Are you expecting a please?" She wondered, turning to face the console. The ship just hummed before a book suddenly flopped down in front of the brunette. It was rather thick and the title was too faded to make out. So it must've been pretty old, she reasoned, bending down and picking it up. "Fine, I'll humor you."

Phoenix slowly made her way back to the captain's chair, absently flipping through the pages. It appeared to be in an alien language, though she had no clue as to which one. Why would the TARDIS give her a book she couldn't read? The Doctor had said that the TARDIS would translate anything for her, so why not this?

Biting her lip, she flipped through the pages faster, hoping that the ship's intentions would be revealed soon. After all, it was clear that she wouldn't be leaving to help the Doctor until she figured it out. But how was she supposed to figure it out without being able to read it? Everything looked like random sized circles!

Just when she was about to give up, Phoenix came to a page that had been translated. Instead of the many circles, she was able to see English. Phoenix shot a questioning glance at the console before turning back to the book and reading the page carefully.

It was instructions, she realized, her brows furrowing. The translated section was detailing how to build what it called a 'inter-dimensional macro-fusion neutralizer'. She wasn't entirely sure, but if she broke the words up, it seemed like the TARDIS wanted her to build something that would neutralize something from another dimension. On a large scale.

"Okay, I know what you want me to do, but I'm not sure if I can." Phoenix murmured to the ship as she stood, keeping her finger on the page. Finding the parts to the project she was currently trying to start had taken her long enough, let alone a whole new one. "I'll never find anything on time and on top of that, I'll have to double check all of the instructions, taking up even more time."

A loud beep from the console caused her to jump and she quickly walked over as it continued insistently. Obviously, the TARDIS wanted her attention. A rectangular drive had popped out of the side of the console, the kind you would find in your laptop for DVD's. This drive was considerably deeper, however, and Phoenix hesitantly set the book on it.

The TARDIS hummed in what Phoenix was taking as approval before the brunette suddenly found herself dropping through the floor, a doorway opening beneath her. Letting out a short cry of surprise, Phoenix found herself landing on her back with a thud. It wasn't a very far drop, though Phoenix couldn't resist glaring in agitation at the ship as she got to her feet, rubbing the back of her head. Though realization dawned on her as she found herself surrounded by parts, each one labeled and splayed out neatly. Okay, so that took care of the finding things bit.

Phoenix watched as a large screen slowly pushed it's way out of the far wall, lighting up the entire room. There was a giant circuit board in front of it covered in, well, circuits. And the screen currently had a sort of crystal like interface. As the computer came out, a short tune played. Almost like a fanfare.

"Hello, Miss Smith. I am Mr. Smith." The computer announced after the music died. "I have been contacted to assist you in building the inter-dimensional macro-fusion neutralizer. Are you ready to begin?"

Phoenix frowned, glancing around at the parts around her. She doubted the computer would be able to answer any of her questions or that it would if it were designed by the TARDIS. Therefore, she might as well go with the flow and see what all of this was about. The sooner she finished here, the sooner she could help the Doctor with whatever it was he needed help with. She would just leave her questions for later when she didn't have a time crunch.

"Alright, Mr. Smith. What first?" She conceded, crouching down to survey the parts. She wasn't sure why the TARDIS had decided to communicate with her this way or why she gave the computer the same last name as herself but it was better than figuring all of this out on her own.

"First you will need the..." As Mr. Smith directed her in building the neutralizer, Phoenix quickly grabbed the parts and assembled them as fast as possible while still being accurate to Mr. Smith's instructions. She just hoped she wouldn't be too late.

 **Hey, guys! Sorry for leaving you guys for so long. I have like no reliable internet and that led to me having like no inspiration to write. Hope you guys can forgive me? Alright, so lots of new things happened in this chapter, hope you guys like what I did. I wasn't entirely sure how I wanted to do this one, there was quite a few versions that I thought of, but I decided I liked this one best.**

 **Let me know what you guys think? Honestly, that's probably one of the things I missed most about not having internet. I love reading your guy's reviews, it inspires me so much. I already have the next chapter written and it will conclude this episode, but I will probably wait a few days before putting it up, just so that I can stretch it a bit while I write the next part. Love you guys and thanks so much for taking the time to read this story!**


	13. Gaseous Zombies and a New Coat

**Hey, guys! So here's the last part of the third episode. There might be some typos and grammar issues, I didn't have much time to edit. Hopefully you guys like it though and also thanks for all of the reviews!**

Phoenix hurried through the snowy streets, shivering as the cold wind blew against her bare legs. Once she'd finished building the neutralizer, she didn't want to waste anymore time so had quickly left the ship - now able to actually open the doors - and was now following the directions the Doctor had messaged her. It had taken her about half an hour to build the device and then she'd been running for about ten minutes. That was 40 minutes since she'd landed, meaning it was probably closer to an hour since the Doctor had actually called her, since the TARDIS had taken her forward in time from that point. Why the ship had done so, Phoenix still had no clue, but she was beginning to realize that there would always be some sort of mystery with the TARDIS.

She was gripping the neutralizer tightly in her right hand and her phone in her left, peering intently down at the two, so she didn't notice the man in front of her until it was too late. Before she could fully comprehend what was happening, she found herself sprawled out on the snowy ground, her phone and the neutralizer flying out of her hands. Gasping a little at the cold, she quickly pushed herself up, turning to the man she'd run into.

He was young, maybe in his early twenties. His hair was brown, he had green eyes, and high cheekbones. He was dressed in a black tux, his hair pulled back into a low ponytail.

"I am so sorry." She hurried to say, reaching down to help him up. He seemed to be a little disoriented as he turned to her. That was to be expected though. Hopefully, this wasn't a normal occurence.

He whirled around to face her as he got to his feet, his eyes widening as they looked her up and down. She was about to protest, but then realized that she hadn't actually changed into period clothes. Women weren't generally supposed to wear such little clothing in this age, so it would make sense for him to be surprised.

"Right, um, this is probably very strange for you." She commented, biting her lip and reaching behind her to pull on a strand of her hair. "I would stay and explain, but I really need to go."

The man stepped forward slowly, his eyes still wide, though now he seemed to be a bit angry. She frowned, watching him carefully as he came into the light. When he was in full view, her eyes widened even more at what she saw. The small area where his white dress shirt was poking out was stained a dark red color that was slowly spreading to cover the whole area.

She couldn't help but think about her mother. It was exactly how the sheets had looked on her mother's bed when Phoenix had finally managed to convince herself to creep out of her hiding place.

"Well, then." The man stated, his eyes narrowing dangerously as his hand slipped into his jacket. "I guess I'll be getting more practice than I'd planned tonight." She stumbled back in shock, shivers running up her spine as he pulled a long, thin blade from his jacket. "Good thing it's still nice and sharp. I can get to work right away. I'm going to rip you up."

Phoenix found that she couldn't move as her muscles locked into place, tremors that had nothing to do with the cold rippling through her. The man smiled coldly at her, baring his teeth as he slowly stalked closer. She knew that she was going to die if she didn't get moving, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't get her body to listen to her brain. Even though she'd faced down a murderous trampoline's alien surgeons, living plastic and a Nestine Consciousness, she couldn't bring herself to deal with this problem the same way.

It was too similar to what had happened that night, six months ago. The night her mother had died. This wasn't some alien or some logical equation. It was a human that was fully intent on murdering her, right there on the street.

But what about the Doctor? A small part of her whispered. If she died here, then he most likely would as well. Along with Rose and the whole planet if his track record was anything to go by. Most likely he was fighting some kind of monster that he hadn't anticipated running into. He'd said that he needed her help.

The process of thinking through the logic helped spur her into motion and she quickly turned and bolted. She could hear the man following her, but she forced that out of her mind, focusing instead on her surroundings. Best thing to do was to try and think about this logically and rationally, she decided, trying to push her terror to the back of her mind. There weren't very many hiding places, but if she could just find somewhere that was populated. Maybe someone could help her.

Suddenly, she was tackled to the ground, a scream tearing from her as the man's weight settled on her. She started to struggle, tears gathering in her eyes as the man began to laugh above her, but it didn't seem to being doing her any good. The cold anticipation was almost worse than the actual situation. She had no way of knowing when that knife was going to come down on her back. All she could do was hope that it wouldn't hurt for too long.

"Get away from me!" She cried, desperately trying to turn around. "Help! Somebody please help me!"

She was going to die. Just like her mother. Murdered. As she felt the cold steel of the knife between her shoulder blades, she let out another cry, her tears overflowing as she fought harder against the man. He slowly ran the blade down her back, applying the smallest bit of pressure and she felt the sting of pain as he carved into her skin.

This was it, she thought, sobbing a little as the knife lifted from her back. She was about to die.

"Hey!"

At the cry, Phoenix suddenly found the weight of the man disappear, accompanied by the sounds of running feet. She frantically looked around to see that he was running away, ducking into an alley.

Before she could really even process what had just happened, she found herself being lifted off of the snowy ground and crushed in a hug. She was too stunned to do anything but stand there and shake in this man's arms.

"You alright?" A familiar voice asked, pulling away and holding her at arms length. She was shocked at who it was.

"Jack?" She questioned, looking him up and down. What was he doing here?

"Yeah. Though I shouldn't be surprised. It's a wonder you didn't run into the Ripper sooner. Think you might've broken your own record." He joked, beaming at her ecstatically. "Anyways, where's the Doctor? I've been looking everywhere for you guys."

She stared at him, her mouth hanging open. This had to be one of the strangest nights of her life, she thought. How did he know the Doctor? How did he get here? She'd just seen him in 2007. And he didn't seem to know who she was or who she'd been with when she'd met him.

"Phoenix?"

Shaking herself, she quickly stepped out of his arms, wiping her cheeks. "How did you get here, Jack? I just saw you in 2007."

"What?" He wondered, stepping away and frowning in confusion at her. "The last time I saw you was on Satellite 5."

She looked at him blankly. A look of realization crossed his face and he sighed.

"Right, time travel. It can get a bit weird. Must be before...You know what, never mind." He muttered, smiling a little sadly at her.

Then it dawned on her. Time travel. She was meeting him in different parts of his life. From the way this conversation was going, it would seem that this was him before 2007 and yet he knew her so did that mean she was going to meet him later? Or later for her and before for him?

"Well, beautiful. I found these not too far down the road. Considering they're not from around these parts, I'm assuming they're yours?" He commented with a smirk, pulling her phone and the neutralizer from his pocket. "What do you need with these?"

The Doctor, she suddenly remembered, snatching the items from Jack and heading back down the street. It took a moment, but Jack was soon running by her side.

"Just like old times, huh?"

She opted to ignore him for the moment as she rounded the corner and spotted the building the Doctor had sent her a picture of. If this Jack was in her future and she was in his past as well as his future, then she didn't want to say too much. Just in case it messed with time or something. For all she knew, it could be like the butterfly effect.

She slid to a stop by the front door, turning to Jack.

"Look, maybe we should split ways here." She quickly told him, tucking her phone into her pocket. "Thank you for saving me, but if you've met me in your past and my future and I've met you in your future, maybe we shouldn't associate too much more. Wouldn't want to mess up time or something."

He nodded, smiling sadly at her again.

"Always did catch on quick. I'll be seeing you then. I look forward to it and remember it well." With that, he chuckled before turning and heading back down the street, throwing a wink at her over his shoulder.

Just as she turned to go into the house a man with a fancy suit and a long, neatly trimmed beard came stumbling out, his eyes shining with fear. He pressed himself against the door, panting heavily and barely taking notice of her. When he did, he seemed to calm a little, shooting a glance at the door before opening his mouth.

What he was going to say, she never got to hear as a sort of blue mist suddenly floated through the door, taking the shape of a sort of humanoid and screaming shrilly at them. The man was quick to hurry down the steps and over to a coach. "Come along, young lady. I recommend fleeing this place."

She nodded at him before hurrying into the house, hearing more shrill cries echoing from down the hall and some stairs. Quickly following the noise, she found herself down in the morgue. Once there, she found a horde of zombies in front of a closed cell. Phoenix felt relief flood her as she heard Rose's voice.

"I haven't even been born yet. It's impossible for me to die." The blonde sounded terrified and Phoenix's relief was quickly replaced with concern and worry. Well, at least her friend was safe for the moment, and from the sounds of it she was with their alien companion. "Isn't it?"

"I'm sorry." She heard the Doctor reply, his voice regretful.

Trying to be quiet, Phoenix crept further into the room, forcing her eyes away from the zombie horde. There were several other ghosts zipping about the room, but Phoenix was pretty sure she was hidden behind the wall for the moment. In the very center of the room, Phoenix could see an arch with a young girl who looked startlingly similar to Gwen Cooper standing under it, her mouth wide open as the ghosts flew out of it.

That must be the weak point Mr. Smith had told her about, Phoenix concluded. Not only had he taught her how to build the neutralizer, but he also instructed her on where and how to use it. Basically, she was the messenger for the TARDIS.

"But it's 1869! How can I die now?" Rose continued in disbelief and fear.

"Time can twist into any shape. You can be born in the twentieth century and die in the nineteenth. And it's all my fault." The Doctor explained sadly. "I brought you here. You and Phoenix."

"It's not your fault. I wanted to come." Rose murmured back and Phoenix decided to tune them out as she worked on turning the neutralizer on. It was actually a rather complicated process. It had some very small switches and then some coding to input and then a button on the side that was keyed to her fingerprint. Then she would have exactly 5 seconds to get clear of it before it decided she was worth neutralizing also.

She shot a glance over at the girl beneath the arch, unsure of how she was going to handle that. What if moving the girl killed her? Or ripped the dimensions further apart? She was assuming the ghost creatures were in the other dimension the name of her device suggested.

"Phoenix?!"

Her head snapped up as Rose suddenly shouted at her, taking notice of her in the stairwell. Unfortunately, so did the zombies. They turned around and started to slowly amble towards her, groaning as their grey eyes locked onto her.

"Right." She murmured, standing and darting further into the room and closer to the arch, just as the man who'd run out the front door hurried into the room.

"Doctor! Doctor!" He shouted, not noticing the zombies. "Turn off the flame, turn up the gas! Now fill the room, all of it now!"

"What are you doing?" The Doctor asked, confused as he looked between Phoenix and the man.

"Inter-dimensional macro-fusion neutralizer." Phoenix explained, now right beside the arch.

"These creatures are gaseous." The other man replied simultaneously, covering his mouth with a handkerchief.

"Brilliant. Gas." The Doctor replied as the zombies grew closer to Phoenix and the suited man. "Fill the room with gas, it'll draw them out of the host, suck them into the air like poison from a wound! And then we can use the neutralizer to heal the rift!"

"I hope his theory will be validated soon because I can't turn this on until matter from our world is separated from whatever plane they're on. Apparently, it would consume both of our dimensions." Phoenix responded, finished setting up her device and setting it by the girl's feet.

"Plenty more!" The Doctor cried and Phoenix could hear the sound of metal breaking and gas filtering into the room.

The zombies threw their heads back as the shrill screams sounded again, the ghost's being sucked from their hosts and the bodies dropping to the floor. Phoenix forced herself to stay on task, covering her mouth to help with the gas and turning her attention to the Doctor as he hurried out of the cell, Rose behind him.

"Doctor, we need to get her out from under the arch!" Phoenix hurriedly explained, glancing fearfully at the servant girl.

He nodded at her before looking to the girl. "Gwyneth, send them back! They lied, they're not angels!"

"Liars?" The girl behind her wondered, focusing on the occupants in the room.

"Look at me." He said calmly, carefully making his way through the corpses on the floor. "If your mother and father could look down and see this, they'd tell you the same. They'd give you the strength. Now send them back!"

"Can't breathe." Rose choked out and Phoenix had to agree with her as she began struggling to pull in air, coughing a little.

"Charles, get them out." The Doctor ordered, not looking away from Gwyneth.

Phoenix shook her head, watching as Charles tried to pull Rose from the room, refusing to leave Gwyneth by herself. She agreed with Rose again. There was no way she was going to leave unless she had absolutely no choice. It had been a hell of a night so far and she wished she could go and leave it for the Doctor to figure out, but she knew that she needed to make sure it was dealt with herself. It would be the only way she would have any peace of mind about the day she was having.

"I can't send them back." Gwyneth said firmly, glaring at the Doctor. "But I can hold them. Hold them in this place, hold them here." Phoenix watched as the girl reached into her pocket. "Get out."

"You can't!" Rose and Phoenix shrieked at the same time, Phoenix moving to stand in front of Gwyneth as the Doctor grabbed Rose.

"Rose, get out! I won't leave her while she's still in danger, now go!" He told her forcefully. Phoenix heard the blonde and the other man hurry out of the room before she felt the Doctor's hand on her arm. "You too, Phoenix. I promise, I won't leave her here."

"Even if I would, I can't!" She shouted, glancing over at the timelord. "The device is imprinted to my fingerprint."

"Well, what'd you do that for?!" The Doctor demanded, frowning at her before he turned his attention back to Gwyneth. "Look, leave that to me."

"What? No, you aren't sacrificing yourself!" Phoenix snapped, grabbing Gwyneth and pulling her out from beneath the arch. The girl collapsed and Phoenix struggled to hold her up, the Doctor moving to pull her into his arms. "We need to hurry."

Phoenix wasn't sure if Gwyneth was dead or unconscious but she quickly pushed that to the back of her mind, reaching forward and pressing the button on the device. Coughing, she hurried after the Doctor, up the stairs and out of the house, just as the whole thing burst into flames. The Doctor, Phoenix and Gwyneth found themselves sprawled out on the snow covered ground, staring up at the burning house.

Rose hurried forward, staring at the trio in worry as the Doctor hurried to lay Gwyneth out on the snow. "Gwyneth? Oh, my god. What's wrong with her?"

Phoenix forced herself into action, moving over to the Doctor who was kneeling beside Gwyneth where he'd set her down. She checked for a pulse and, finding none, she quickly set to administering CPR. There was no way to tell how long Gwyneth had had no pulse, but there was no way that she was going to give up. Gasping in a breath, she blew as much of it as she could into the girl's lungs, returning to compressions.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Breath. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Breath.

"Phoenix, she's gone." The Doctor murmured softly to her, laying a hand on her arm.

She shook him off, ignoring him and continuing, a few tears falling down her cheeks as she began to lose hope. He might be right. She knew that every minute that passed with someone being unresponsive, lowered the persons chances by ten percent. It felt like she'd been working for hours and her arms were beginning to tire when suddenly the girl sat up with a gasp, coughing a little as she looked around at those around her. Phoenix gasped out a half laugh, half sob as the girl rolled onto her side, breathing in deeply.

Rose hurried over and pulled Gwyneth into a hug, laughing in relief and murmuring softly to the confused girl. "It's okay. You're fine now."

Pushing herself to her feet, Phoenix moved away to give the two some room, tucking some strands of hair that had fallen from her ponytail behind her ear. She moved over to a nearby wall, the events of the night suddenly hitting her all at once. All of the stress with Owen, having a gun pointed at her, the mess with Jack the Ripper, the flashbacks of her mother and then the ghosts. She found that she couldn't push it to the back of her mind anymore and before she fully realized it, she was sobbing. Someone hesitantly wrapped their arms around her shoulders, resting their head on hers and just holding her as she cried.

"It's okay. You're fine. We did it." Rose murmured quietly, rubbing soothing circles on her back. For whatever reason, the fact that it was Rose who'd decided to come comfort her had her crying even harder as she turned into the blonde's embrace, clinging to her tightly as she let everything out. Her fear, her pain, her confusion, her frustration. All of it. Everything from the past six months.

At her mother's funeral this was what she'd needed. She had needed to know that her friend was there to help comfort her and help her through all of the pain. She knew that part of her reason for not being able to move on was because she hadn't had that comfort, that reassurance. Instead, she'd felt that she had to take care of everyone else. Her dad, Rose, Owen, even Jackie. Now that she finally had that safety to let it all out, she wasn't sure she would be able to stop. The blonde took it surprisingly well, seeming a bit confused, but just letting Phoenix cry, even though it was soaking Rose's dress.

Eventually, Phoenix had managed to calm down and she slowly pulled away from Rose, wiping her cheeks and doing her best to not shiver as the wind started picking up again. Gwyneth had thanked her, surprising her with a hug and she'd learned that the Doctor and Rose's friend was Charles Dickens. Pretty soon, they were all planning on heading back to the TARDIS, Gwyneth planning on staying to deal with all of the questions about the house.

As the Doctor did some last minute checks to make sure the rift had closed, Phoenix was pulled over to the side by Gwyneth, the girl wanting to speak for a moment. "I just wanted to say thank you, miss."

"Of course, Gwyneth. There's no need. I couldn't just leave you there." She replied, rubbing her arms to try and warm up a little. "I'm glad I could help."

Gwyneth smiled softly at her before turning to leave, only to pause, seeming to be debating something. After a moment's hesitation, the girl turned back to her, her eyes a little unfocused. "Forgive me, miss, but...be careful of those you trust. Remember that the serpent often appears as a friend. And I'm sorry, miss, but when that day comes, when you get the answer you've been looking for these past months, everything's going to change. When the clock strikes ten and the big bad wolf comes knocking, the one you hold most dear will forever be a stranger to you."

Gwyneth gave her one last sad smile before turning and heading back down the street, Phoenix staring after her with wide eyes. Before she could think more on it the Doctor stepped in front of her, blocking her sight of the girl she'd saved. "Right, then. Guess we'll be off. Don't want to stay for the questioning."

She nodded and followed the Doctor, Rose and Charles Dickens down the road towards the TARDIS, sending one last glance at Gwyneth over her shoulder. What could the girl possibly have meant by such a strange warning? Was it just ramble or was there some merit to it? On a normal day, she would probably have concluded that the girl was just messing with her, but she was finding that she couldn't fit reality into any of it's previous parameters. She was in 1869 after all.

Shaking her head, she decided she would add it to her list of questions to ask the Doctor later before she made her way over to Charles Dickens. She would probably never get another chance to have an actual conversation with the man, so she figured she might as well make the best of it.

"So, you're THE Charles Dickens?" She questioned, managing a smile. This was history right here. Her dad used to read Charles Dickens books to her when she was younger and even though she hadn't always understood the concepts as a child, she had enjoyed the time spent with her father.

"Well, as far as I know, yes." He answered, smiling kindly at her though she didn't miss the slightly uncomfortable glance he sent her.

She bit her lip, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt a little. "I should probably apologize for my attire. I've had a very long and didn't have the time to dress appropriately."

"I must say it is possible the least strange thing I've witnessed this night." He responded, smile still in place. She grinned back, trying to stop her teeth from chattering as she shivered at the wintry air. Noticing, Dickens quickly undid his suit jacket, holding it up for her.

"Oh, uh, thanks. But I'm fine." She protested, glancing back at the Doctor who was quietly speaking to Rose. "I.."

"No, no. I insist." He replied. "It would be highly inappropriate to leave a young lady such as yourself shivering in the cold."

Biting her lip, she decided it would be best not to argue and let the kind man help her into the jacket, hiding a grin as she realized she was now in possession of Charle's Dickens coat. And that was that. They continued walking towards the TARDIS, Phoenix wearing Dickens long black coat and taking his offered arm. The two easily lapsed into conversation about the author and his books, discussing each other's favorites, though Phoenix tried to keep the conversation mostly on him. She didn't want to risk saying anything about books he had yet to write. When they neared the TARDIS, the Doctor quickly passed them, reaching into his pocket to pull out a TARDIS key.

"Right, then, Charlie boy. I've just got to go into my, um...shed." He nodded at the author before turning to the lock on the TARDIS doors. "Won't be long."

Rose moved over to the author with a smile. "What're you gonna do now?"

"I shall take the mail coach back to London. Quite literally post haste." He replied, beaming at the trio. "This is no time for me to be on my own. I shall spend Christmas with my family and make amends to them. After all, I've learned tonight, there can be nothing more vital."

"You've cheered up." The Doctor commented, turning to the author with a grin.

"Exceedingly." The author replied joyfully, laughing. "This morning I thought I knew everything in the world, now I know I've just started. All these huge and wonderful notions, Doctor! I'm inspired, I must write about them."

Phoenix couldn't help but giggle at the man's enthusiasm as he launched into an explanation of how he could subtly work the new twists into his books. Rose seemed a little apprehensive as she listened to the author, but she also seemed to be just as happy as the kind man. And Phoenix had to agree. She couldn't recall Charles Dickens having blue ghosts in any of his stories, but then again she wasn't exactly an expert either.

"Good luck with it." The Doctor replied, shaking the excited man's hand. "Nice to meet you. Fantastic."

"Bye then, and thanks." Rose said, as she also took the man's hand, leaning forward and placing a kiss on his cheek.

Phoenix watched as the author's eyes widened, shocked at the familiarity.

"Oh, my dear...How modern." He took a moment to collect himself, Rose grinning softly at him. "Thank you, but I don't understand. In what way is this goodbye? Where are you going?"

"You'll see." The Doctor murmured, gesturing to the TARDIS. "In the shed."

"Oh, Charles." Phoenix replied, smiling fondly at the man. "Mr. Charles Dickens. It was absolutely brilliant getting to meet you." She couldn't help it as she bounced on the balls of her feet. "Thank you. For everything." With that, she shook his hand and turned to follow the Doctor into the TARDIS, only to be stopped as Charles spoke to them again.

"By my soul, Doctor. It's one riddle after another with you, but...after all these revelations, there's one mystery you still haven't explained." He paused, glancing between the three of them as he stood up straight. "Answer me this. Who are you?"

Phoenix watched as the Doctor's face fell a little as he thought before he smiled softly, having come up with an answer. "Just a friend. Passing through."

"But you have such knowledge of future times, I-I don't wish to impose on you." Dickens murmured, his tone almost desperate as he shook his head. "But I must ask you. My books...Doctor, do they last?"

"Oh, yes." The Doctor replied, beaming again as he stood before the author.

"For how long?"

"Forever."

At this answer, Charles Dickens brightened even more than he already had that night, his eyes twinkling with mirth. Phoenix grinned back at him before stepping quietly into the TARDIS, not being able to stand the cold anymore. Thankfully, the TARDIS seemed to have turned on some heat as Phoenix could now feel a warm breeze circulating through the console room. "Thanks, girl."

As she slowly walked around the console, she noticed that the book from earlier was now resting on the captain's chair and the room she'd found herself in to build the neutralizer was now gone. Curious, she went over to the chair, picking the book up and flipping to the page that had been translated. Now it was just as foreign to her as the rest of the book. Just circles again.

"Doesn't that change history if he writes about blue ghosts?" Rose's voice snapped Phoenix from her thoughts on the book as the Doctor and her entered the TARDIS.

"In a weeks time it's 1870." The Doctor explained, leading Rose over to the monitor. "And that's the year he dies. Sorry, he'll never get to tell his story."

"Oh, no." Rose murmured, peering down at the author on the monitor as Phoenix came to stand beside the two. "He was so nice."

"But in your time, he was already dead. We've brought him back to life." The Doctor comforted, glancing between the two girls. "And he's more alive now then he's ever been. Old Charlie boy." He grinned. "Let's give him one last surprise."

Then with a grin, he sent the TARDIS flying off to their next adventure. Phoenix smiled sadly down at the monitor. He really had been very kind, letting her borrow his coat and-Her eyes went wide and she glanced down at her attire. "I forgot to give it back to him."

"What?" The Doctor asked, turning to her with a frown.

"Charles Dickens' coat. I forgot to return it." She responded, spinning around to show him.

At that, Rose couldn't hold in her laughter, walking over to examine the dress coat. It was dark black and fell down to brush against the back of the brunette's knees. Phoenix couldn't help but to laugh with Rose. Of all the things, she could say she'd done, stealing Charles Dickens coat had never crossed her mind. Honestly, it probably wasn't as funny as the two girl were making it, but after everything they'd been through in such a short amount of time it felt good to just let it all out. Soon, the Doctor had even joined in with them, beaming at his two companions.

 **So what'd you think? I hope the thing with Jack isn't too confusing, but let me know if it is and I will answer as soon as I can, though I'm not sure when that'll be. Anyhow I rather enjoyed writing this part! Also to address your guys' reviews.**

 **A lot of you have been wondering about the thing between Rose and Phoenix and you will get closer to figuring that out in the next episode, once I get to that point, however I think the next chapter will be placed between the episodes. Also, maybe you guys could help me with a decision I've been struggling with. I know there is already tension between Phoenix and Rose, and it will be concluded, however, I was trying to decide if Rose would still fall in love with the Doctor. I feel like she would but she also gets very jealous so it would cause more tension between the two girls.**

 **So basically, do you guys think that the relationship between Rose and the Doctor should be completely platonic or have Rose like him and then realize that Phoenix cares for him and gracefully step down or even have the Doctor love both of them and have to choose? Let me know what you guys think, please?**

 **Oh! Just remembered. Did any of you catch the whole thing with Mr. Smith? Let me know if you did or what your thoughts are on that. It was kind of a spur of the moment idea.**

 **Thanks so much for reading and following this story guys! It means so much to me! Till next time!**


	14. The Year Displaced

The TARDIS hummed softly as she drifted through the cosmos and Phoenix stepped out of the shower, swiping her hand through the fogged up mirror before turning to examine the area of her back that the Ripper had carved up. Her need to warm up had trumped the thought of getting the Doctor to take a look at the wound and besides, it had needed to be cleaned. The TARDIS had seemed to agree as the water had smelled strangely of disinfectant. Not overwhelmingly so, but enough to detect it. The adrenaline had helped keep her mind off of what had occured when she met the Ripper and she'd even managed to forget about it, actually having fallen asleep the night before, but as she'd climbed under the hot water the next morning - if morning's were actually a thing in the TARDIS - her back instantly flared with a searing pain and the events had wormed their way to the forefront of her mind.

Now as she stared at her back, she found she couldn't look away. She'd thought that the Ripper was just cutting, without sense or reason, but now she was presented with evidence to the contrary. Because in the mirror she could see bright, red, jagged letters spelling out the words 'Save Bad Wolf'.

It didn't make any sense why anyone would carve those words into someone's back, let alone why Jack the Ripper would do so. From what she knew of him from history, it didn't fit. Then again, the history books could be wrong. After all, most of the information found in a history book was just theories that archaeologists and history professors had about some old relic that had been discovered. There was no way to know how much of the theories were accurate. But if that were true, then why had Gwyneth also mentioned the words to her?

Sighing, she shook the thoughts from her head, wrapping a fluffy blue towel around her form and walking into her room. Perhaps it was just something that was central to 1869 that she had no clue about. Regardless of what the words meant or didn't mean, she knew that they could wait. Yes, she had far more pressing things on her mind at the moment.

For example, she was debating whether she should ask the Doctor if he had a medical kit or if she should just leave the cut as it was. On the one hand, she wasn't entirely sure how deep it was, but she could also make an error and wind up dead by morning due to blood loss or something. It didn't seem likely to her, but she wasn't entirely herself at the moment either.

Another thing she had to consider was Jack. Captain Jack, not Ripper Jack. If he knew her from his past and her future, didn't that mean that the Jack she'd already met had known her? Why would he pretend otherwise? And why would him as the Face of Boe send her to him as Jack the Captain? What purpose did it serve?

The doors to her closet suddenly slammed open, snapping her out of the sea of questions spinning through her brain as she jumped. A glance at the clock on her nightstand showed that she'd been standing in the middle of the room, wrapped up in her thoughts for the last ten minutes.

A pair of dark skinny jeans and a black halter top were waiting for her when she made her way over to the closet. Frowning, she glanced around at the TARDIS before grabbing the articles of clothing and pulling them on. Thankfully, the top had sleeves that would help keep her warm, but everything above the small of her back was left bare and left the words carved into her back in full display. Her bedroom door swung open and she quickly came to the conclusion that the TARDIS agreed with her earlier thoughts of getting the Doctor to take a look at the Ripper's work.

Pulling her wet hair over her shoulder, she made her way out of her room, shutting the door behind her and heading off to find the Doctor. She wasn't entirely sure where to start searching, even though the first place that popped into her mind was the console room, but he couldn't just stay in that room all the time...could he?

No, she decided, letting her fingers trail along the wall of the corridor as she followed the soft nudging in the back of her mind that she thought was the TARDIS offering assistance. It was crazy but she was starting to realize that she trusted the TARDIS almost immediately after stepping into the bigger on the inside box. She'd never even thought about it, but the ship always felt rather familiar to her. Ever since that first time.

When she finally found the timelord, he was sitting in an armchair, flicking through the pages of a book, a giant stack of other books beside him on the floor. She frowned as he continued to flip the pages, leaving no time to possibly be reading it. She thought back to that time in her flat, when he'd supposedly read her copy of Lovely Bones. She'd thought he'd been playing around at the time and had given it no thought.

"Can you actually read that fast?" She asked, causing the alien in question to startle and drop the book before whirling around to face her.

"Blimey!" He exclaimed, staring at her wide-eyed. "Warn a bloke, would you? I was halfway through the Andes!"

Her frown deepened at his words and she quietly moved over to pick up the book, surrepitiously glancing at the title. 'A Trek Through the Andes'. "Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you. I had a...request."

"Yeah, I got that, thanks." He retorted in annoyance, taking the book back from her. "Yes. I can actually read that fast. Can't you?"

"For someone who winds up on or in orbit of Earth so much you really have no clue about humans." She raised an eyebrow at him, thinking back to how surprised he'd been at where she lived and intrigued all at the same time. "And that wasn't my question. I was wondering if you would take a look at something for me."

At this, he looked at her in curiosity. What could she want him to look at? Was there something wrong with her room? Had she broken something? Had she been snooping around? His brunette companion seemed to hesitate for a moment before taking a deep breath and quickly turning so her back was to him, holding her hair over her shoulder.

What he saw had him bolting to his feet and grabbing her shoulders, causing his companion to stiffen in surprise. He paid no mind to her as he gently ran his fingers along the edge of the words he was looking at.

'Save Bad Wolf'. Bad Wolf? He'd heard that before...somewhere.

Ah, he realized, thinking back to the bit of conversation he'd overheard between the servant girl and Rose Tyler. She'd mentioned something about a bad wolf. Was it the same one? Coincidence?

"When did this happen?" He inquired of the girl before him who probably hadn't noticed the pause in his movements. "Who did this?"

"Well, on my way to help you after our phone call, I ran into someone. Literally." She shivered underneath his hands and he glanced at her in concern. "Turned out to be Jack the Ripper. I tried to run, but I wasn't fast enough. I'm assuming that he took offense to my attire since I didn't really think about changing and as I understand it, the Ripper went after prostitutes, right?"

"Something like that." He muttered, a little distracted. "Right. Come on."

He grabbed her elbow and began to gently lead her towards the medbay. It was a little disconcerting that he hadn't noticed this. It would have had to have happened at least a few hours ago and he hadn't had a clue about what had held her up. He'd been curious, obviously but he'd figured she'd just gotten lost in the old victorian London.

Once they arrived in the med bay he immediately set off to grab the supplies he would need, directing Phoenix to sit on one of the beds. "Should've said something. Why didn't you?"

She looked down, biting her lip and picking at the hem of her shirt. "I, well, I had kind of forgotten about it."

She watched as the Doctor wandered around the expansive medical bay, grabbing random tubes and squares out of cupboards. She wasn't quite sure what they were but she'd trusted him this far and he seemed to know what he was looking for, which implied that he knew what he was doing.

As he came back over and quietly began squeezing a light blue gel onto his fingers, she spoke again. "What do you think the words mean? Is it some strange Victorian saying, like something that got lost in time or translation?"

"Don't know." He replied, gently rubbing the gel onto the skin of her back. The stuff was ice cold and she jumped a little, shivering and doing her best to stay still. "Could be. Probably doesn't mean anything."

Despite his words, he tucked the information away in his mind for later observation. If it was just something from that period, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out. He'd just have to pop back at some point and ask people back then what the words meant to them. Easy.

"So, where did you go?" He inquired, carefully rubbing one of the blue sealer cubes on her cuts. "After Boe gave you the vortex manipulator?"

"I told you. Cardiff." She murmured, looking up at him after he finished bandaging her up and went to lean against the bed across from her. "At first, I couldn't tell when, but the TARDIS took me back later. That was the third time I wound up there. The second time I ran into a friend of mine. We had some things to work out so the TARDIS dropped me off."

At her words, the Doctor straightened up, frowning in concern. Why would the TARDIS just fly off without him? "What year was it?"

"2007." She replied, biting her lip and swinging her legs a little. "Is that bad? He thought that I was missing for two years, but you said this was a time machine. If I wanted, I wouldn't even be gone for two minutes...right?"

"Isn't that simple." The Doctor seemed frustrated and almost a little guilty. She had an inkling of what he was getting at but found that she was really hoping it wasn't true. "The people you interacted with, how many of them did you know?"

"Just Owen...at first." She responded before elaborating at his questioning look. "One of the people I met there, well, I also met him in 1869. He was the reason I got away from the Ripper. Doctor, what happens if you meet someone out of order?"

"Depends on what happens when you meet 'em. Who was it?"

"Well, I don't know if I can say. He knew me. In 1869, he knew me. He knew you too, said that he'd been looking for the two of us."

Well, that definitely complicated things, the Doctor thought, frowning a little at her words and hopping up to sit on the bed behind him. On the one hand, it could be any number of his enemies, but he had saved Phoenix. On the other, if he dug too hard, he could disrupt the timelines. Especially, since she'd already become part of events.

"Did he know you in 2007?" It would help if he could determine where in her timeline this man was and what impact her interaction had. Was that why the Face had given her the manipulator? To mess with the timelines? The thought was a little unsettling to the Doctor. Intentionally messing with time rarely turned out well.

"I don't know. He didn't exactly say that he did, but there was also something about the way he acted. He didn't seem to know my name, at any rate, but he must've known me then, right?"

"Not if the one you met in 2007 was a past version of him and the one you met in 1869 was the current or future version. Time doesn't always work in a straight line. It bends and it changes." The Doctor explained, his hands moving as if to further emphasize his point. "Don't ever forget that. Nothing is safe." He pointed a finger at her, his face serious. "Future knowledge can be dangerous. One wrong word in the wrong place could change history. And not always for the better."

He would need to check the timelines later and make sure they weren't going to implode or disintegrate. Or get eaten. He didn't think anything had really come of it, but one could never be sure. What he was sure of was that it wasn't an immediate danger.

She frowned, a little disconcerted by how serious he was being. "So does that mean that I should treat the version in 2007 as if we've just met?"

That could work. It would definitely help make sure she didn't let anything slip up that wasn't supposed to. But what if that's what made him do certain things in the future? What if one word not in place at the right moment ruined everything?

"Doctor..."

"Doctor? Phoenix?"

The Doctor pushed away from his bed at the blonde's calls, smiling reassuringly at Phoenix. "Don't worry 'bout it too much. Just be careful not to interact with anyone you met in 2007 in the time I picked you up from. 'Specially that friend of yours. You're already stuck in those events." He reached out and helped Phoenix hop off of the bed. "I'll explain more later. For now, just keep those cuts covered, don't take any tylenol or ibuprofin for the next ten hours, and try not to complicate your timeline anymore. Got it?"

She nodded, following him out into the corridor as she pondered what he'd told her. So essentially, no matter what, Owen would have to wait two years to see her again. Even if she spoke with her dad and Jackie, he would be stuck waiting. Her heart clenched at the thought and she quickly excused herself from the Doctor, saying she'd meet him and Rose in the console room before heading back to her bedroom.

And the worst part was that it was and wasn't her fault. In her defense, it was the Face of Boe A.K.A Jack himself that had sent her forward in time, but she was the one who had decided to travel with the Doctor and trust a strange alien in the first place. But if Jack himself sent her into the future, then didn't that mean there was a reason? And if there wasn't then could she truly trust him?

Sighing, she shook her head and went over to the closet as the room began shaking about, the TARDIS taking off. Despite this, she managed to find a simple white tank top and a TARDIS blue hoodie waiting for her and pull them on, along with socks and combat boots. Once she'd finished, the ship was just settling down before coming to a complete stop and she headed for the console room, pushing thoughts of Owen to the back of her mind.

When she reached the large room, there was no sign of the blonde or their alien driver, but judging by the sounds of laughter coming from the other side of the door, she assumed they had already stepped out. Phoenix slowly followed them out, the murmurs of their conversation growing louder as she neared the door.

"What are you gonna tell her?" The Doctor asked, watching as Rose came to a halt and Phoenix stepped out of the time ship, closing the door gently behind her.

"I don't know." Rose seemed to have just realized that she had no clue what to say, though Phoenix could detect a hint of playfulness in her answer. "I've been to the year five billion and only been gone, what? Twelve hours?"

Phoenix grinned at the Doctor as he chuckled lightly. She was happy that the blonde wouldn't have to deal with any wonky timelines. It was bad enough that she'd put someone who was just a friend through that, let alone a parent. If her mother were still alive and had been missing her for two years, she would be devastated with guilt.

"No, I'll just tell her I spent the night at Shareen's or Phoenix's." Rose continued, shaking her head and turning around, throwing a wave of her hand behind her back. "See ya later." Phoenix watched as the blonde walked off before turning back, waving her finger at the Doctor. "Don't you disappear."

The Doctor nodded with a small smile, turning away to look around at the surrounding apartments after Rose had run off. He seemed a little bit sad as he leaned back against the TARDIS and Phoenix had to admit that she wasn't feeling so great either. Yeah, it probably wasn't as bad as what he had to deal with, but she could guess what might be causing his mood to drop.

Here they were, dropping Rose off at home so she could visit her mother. Neither the Doctor nor Phoenix would ever do that again. Yes, Phoenix still had her father and Owen, but there would always be that missing piece of her that she'd left with her mother. For the Doctor, it had to be worse.

It wasn't just his mother or just his family that he lost, though those would probably be the more potent losses, but he'd lost his entire planet and species. Never again would he be able to visit home. Never again would he have someone who could understand his pain or weird quirks that she was sure he had as a Timelord. He would always have that loss, dragging him down. And neither her or Rose or anyone really, would ever be able to fully understand or relate to such a thing. It wasn't as if they could truly understand what it felt like to have their entire planet burn.

Her eyes widened slightly as something clicked for her and she turned to the Doctor. He didn't seem to have noticed her thoughts as he wandered away from the TARDIS, kicking a plastic cup before just stopping, staring forward with a frown on his face. She tucked her revelation away for later, realizing that something must've happened and hurrying over to him, following his gaze.

"What?" She wondered, but didn't get a response as the Doctor just strode forward over to a pillar, smoothing back an old poster and staring at it intently.

Coming to stand beside the Doctor, her blood froze at what she saw and worry for her friend had her running towards Rose's flat, the Doctor following not too long after. The two of them raced up the stairs, both trying to reach the blonde in time. If they didn't, then Rose would be stuck dealing with the exact situation Phoenix had landed herself in, only worse as she'd mulled over earlier.

Phoenix and the Doctor burst into the Tyler's flat, Phoenix slightly behind the Doctor and having to skid to a halt as the Doctor caught himself on the hall doorway that led into the living room. "Um, it's not twelve hours, it's, uh, twelve months."

Rose looked over at the two in shock, still in her mother's arms and Phoenix sighed, leaning against the wall slightly as she caught her breath. The Doctor didn't seem to have any issues with this as he just continued on.

"You've been gone a whole year." He smiled awkwardly at Jackie, chuckling nervously. "Sorry."

Rose turned back to her mother and Phoenix watched the two sadly. Great, she thought sorrowfully, not only was this just another thing that Rose might just take out on her, but Jackie was suffering too. A whole year?! That's how long the poor woman had been stuck thinking who knows what about her daughter! She could just tell that this was not going to go well and with another sigh, she moved to stand beside the Doctor, shooting him a quick look as he continued to grin at Jackie.

"Yeah, Doctor?" She muttered, tugging lightly on his sleeve. He turned to her with raised eyebrows. "That isn't really helping."

He turned back to Rose and her mother, who were hugging again before nodding slightly, his manic smile dropping to a more sheepish one.

The next thing she knew, Jackie had called the police and had sat Rose on a chair, demanding an explanation. Rose hadn't been able to come up with anything, so Phoenix had decided to jump in after a few minutes of Jackie yelling at the blonde teenager in worry and anger. It had always been that way between Rose and Phoenix when they were younger, usually when they got in trouble for their little stunts, Phoenix would be the one to step in and spin some kind of story. Though even she had to admit that this one would be a little difficult and a bit of a stretch.

She'd quickly told Jackie that she'd invited Rose to go traveling with her and an old friend of hers, A.K.A. the Doctor, and had explained that it was a sudden offer and if they hadn't accepted when they did, that the chance would most likely have slipped away. She'd made it sound like a once in a lifetime opportunity, deciding to stick as close to the truth as possible. It had been a way for Rose and her to reconnect after their strained friendship and since the Doctor was the one with the free pass, he had to go along as well.

Unfortunately, Jackie only seemed to get angrier after Phoenix finished her explanation, launching into another rant even as she invited the policeman into the house. He seemed used to such behaviour though and just sat across from Rose, pulling out a pad of paper and a pen as Jackie continued.

"The hours I've sat here, days and weeks and months, all on my own! I thought you were dead! And where were you? Traveling? What the hell does that mean?" Jackie demanded, leaning down to look at Rose. "Traveling? That's no sort of answer!" She moved to stand beside the police officer, glaring in agitation between Phoenix and Rose. "You ask them. They won't tell me, that's all they say. Traveling."

"That's what I was doin'," Rose protested weakly and Phoenix glanced down at the obvious guilt in the blonde's eyes. Hopefully, they would be able to sort this out and have everyone be okay in the end.

"Your passport's still in the drawer!" Jackie exclaimed, pointing back towards Rose's room. Phoenix bit her lip as she realized that in sticking to vague truth's she'd forgotten about the smaller details. "It's just one lie after another!"

"I meant to phone, um, I really did, I just..." Phoenix watched as Rose trailed off, not knowing where she was going with this. "..I forgot."

Phoenix cringed inwardly at that. It would've been easier to just say there was no phone service, which wouldn't entirely be a lie. This was why Phoenix was the one to come up with stories and Rose was the one to thank her later.

"What? For a year?!" Jackie raged, even more angry than before. "You forgot for a year?!"

Phoenix glanced at the Doctor, noticing his guilty glances towards Rose. Thankfully, he hadn't just left the two girls to deal with it on their own, she thought. He could've. After all, it wasn't even his planet, so why deal with such human problems? Then again, Timelords could be just the same, she mused before forcing her wandering thoughts back on track as she listened to Jackie.

"Why won't you tell me where you've been?!"

At this the Doctor stepped in, hands still in his jacket pockets as he drew everyone's attention to him and off of Rose. "Actually, it's my fault. I sort of, uh,...employed Rose and Phoenix as my companions." He grinned over at the policemen in what Phoenix assumed was supposed to be reassuring, but she could tell where this would be going after that. He probably just should've stayed quiet, she thought, running a hand through her hair and biting her lip as the Doctor continued. "As Phoenix said before."

The police officer looked between Phoenix and Rose, now seeming more concerned than before if that were possible. "When you say companions are those sexual relationships?"

The Doctor looked between Rose and Phoenix, shocked, Rose and him speaking at the same time. "No!"

The police officer looked at Phoenix, who had remained silent, leaning against the chair Rose was sat in. "And you, Miss Smith? Do you have anything to add to that?"

She sighed, rolling her eyes and trying to hide her light blush at the topic they were discussing. "Like I've said, the Doctor is an old friend of mine. We just went traveling with him. And no we are not sleeping together."

"Then what is it?!" Jackie demanded, stepping up to stand before Phoenix. "'Cause the police wind up at my door after some claims that you blew up that shop and the next thing I know, she vanishes off the face of the Earth!"

Phoenix frowned. Was Jackie seriously accusing her? Granted, she'd just taken full responsibility for Rose's disappearance, but Jackie and her had grown close over the years. Seeing such anger directed at her...hurt. Yes, she'd been expecting Rose's mother to be angry about what had happened, but she'd figured most of it would've stemmed from worry. But she was accusing her of kidnapping Rose?

"I should've realized after Rose stopped hanging out with you! But no, I decided to overlook what was obviously right in front of my eyes! How wrong you are! How ashamed your mother would be if she were still alive! What? Did you kill her too?! Is that what you were planning on doing to Rose?!" Jackie continued and Phoenix froze at those words.

She'd really gone there, Jackie was really that angry with her. Stunned into silence, Phoenix just gaped, barely noticing the confused looks Rose was shooting her as Jackie turned to the Doctor.

"How old are you, then? Forty? Forty-five? What'd you and her plan this together?!" Jackie demanded, shooting Phoenix a disgusted look. "D'you go around and pretend you're a Doctor?!"

"He is a Doctor," Phoenix murmured, still a little shocked, but trying to help fix things for Rose.

"Well, then he can prove it. Stitch this, mate!" And with that, Jackie smacked the Doctor across the face and a moment later Phoenix found her head snapping to the side, her cheek stinging as Jackie provided her the same treatment.

Rose seemed to slink further down into her seat as Phoenix slowly turned back around to stare at Jackie in shock, not really comprehending that the person she'd considered as at least an aunt had just slapped her. Never in all the years she'd known the woman had Jackie ever really been mad at her like this. Sure, the normal anger when her and Rose got into trouble, but never anything like this. Now it seemed the woman almost loathed her.

Swallowing back tears, Phoenix turned to the police officer. "I'm sorry about all of this. I swear, we were just traveling." Knowing that the officer really couldn't even investigate unless Rose denied their claims, she looked around at everyone, heading towards the back door. "Excuse me."

With that, she hurried out of the room and up to the roof, the tears managing to escape before she was even halfway up the stairs. She tried to fight them back and get a hold of herself, but honestly she was too shocked for that. Despite what several people had thought of her after her mother's death, she'd never been accused of being the one to kill her, even though she was in the house during the incident. She'd had people pity her, think she was trying to get more attention, just be uncomfortable around her, or in Rose's case just completely ignore that it had ever happened, but hearing Jackie accuse her of her mother's death was too much.

All the time, she'd spent holding her emotions in, trying to be strong and move on like everyone seemed to expect from her...it had all been an act. A way of numbing herself to the actual pain and emotions that she didn't want to face. Part of her did blame herself for that night. That was probably what hurt most about Jackie's accusation. She already blamed herself. If she'd only done something instead of stay hidden as her mother had instructed, maybe she could've saved her. Or at least know who had killed her! Just something!

Hearing footsteps on the stairwell, Phoenix quickly tried to compose herself, swallowing her sobs and frantically wiping her eyes. At some point, she'd fallen to her knees, but she was more concerned with just looking more decent and less like a sobbing mess on the floor. The effort it took to pull herself to halfway decent seemed to actually hurt, but as the door leading up to the roof opened, she kept trying, slowly getting to her feet.

"You alright?"

Not trusting her voice, she just nodded, still wiping her cheeks and leaning against the roof wall, her back still to the Doctor. She heard a quiet sigh before hearing footsteps making their way towards her.

The Doctor stopped beside her, leaning back against the graffittied wall and crossing his arms and legs before him. He could tell that his brunette companion had been crying and he honestly wasn't sure what to do about it. What could he do? It wasn't as if they'd known each other that long and he wasn't really one for domestics. But he had to at least try. After all, this girl had tried to help him when he was lost in the pain that was always lingering on the edges of his mind and hearts, even though she didn't know anything about him or what could possibly be paining him.

At the thought of that, he grinned a little, realizing exactly what he should do. "So...you never answered me. What's _your_ favorite color?"

Slowly, she turned to face him, her eyes still a bit watery and her cheeks tearstained, but his grin grew bigger when he saw the small, if forced a little, smile on her face. "It's actually more like a group of colors. Purple, green, and blue."

He nodded and smiled at her before it softened a bit. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head, looking down at her feet. He'd been expecting that. Hoping for it almost. Domestics truly weren't his domain.

"Actually, I had something I wanted to ask you. Now seems a better time than any." She murmured, absently rubbing her stinging left cheek. "When you took Rose and I to see the sun expand and burn the Earth...was that so you could have someone understand a fraction of the pain you went through?"

She watched as the alien's eyes watered a bit before he closed his eyes and turned away. Honestly, she hadn't expected him to answer with words, but the actions were answer enough and with a soft sigh, she reached out and gently took his hand. The two stood there quietly for a moment, both trying to overcome the pain that ate at their hearts as they took the other's comfort.

"Alright, then." The Doctor suddenly said, smiling brightly at her and letting go of her hand. The smile didn't quite reach his eyes, but she forced one in return, pushing the painful thoughts to the back of her mind. He opened his mouth to say more, but quickly closed it as Rose joined them on the roof, hopping up to sit on the ledge beside them.

His blonde companion glanced at Phoenix, biting her lip and looking around almost nervously before speaking. "I can't tell her. I can't even begin. She's never gonna forgive me."

"You're her daughter, Rose." Phoenix replied, looking over at the two of them, her face now mostly free of any trace of her tears. "Of course, she'll forgive you." In her mind, she couldn't help but add that it was her that would never be forgiven.

Rose nodded before glancing at the Doctor. "And we missed a year? Was it good?"

"Middling." The Doctor responded, glancing at Phoenix. Honestly, he wasn't quite sure how he had gotten his dates so wrong. Maybe the TARDIS had to recalibrate? Something could be wrong with the steering? Or did his ship not like his companions? She'd seemed fine with them.

"You're so useless." Rose muttered, turning away and Phoenix glanced at the Doctor, him staring at Rose in slight aggravation.

"Well, if it's this much trouble, are you gonna stay here now?" He demanded, his voice just under being light as he watched Rose. He knew she had good reason to be angry at him, but he was still affronted by her comment and still hurting from the memories Phoenix had brought up.

"I don't know." Rose sighed, turning back to Phoenix and the Doctor. "I can't do that to her again though."

"Well, she's not coming with us." The Doctor muttered, grumpily.

Just at the thought, they burst into laughter, Phoenix even joining in as she welcomed the distraction from her pain. That would only happen when pigs flew.

"No chance." Rose muttered, playing with her fingers.

"I don't do families." He continued and Phoenix's grin grew at the amusing pout on his face. He looked quite childish at the moment.

"She slapped you!" Rose continued, still laughing about it and deciding that it wouldn't exactly help Phoenix's mood to bring up the fact that the brunette also had been slapped by Jackie.

"Nine hundred years of time and space and I've never been slapped by someone's mother."

Phoenix couldn't help but chuckle at the Doctor. "Seriously? How is that even possible?" Then his words fully hit her. "Wait, so..."

"Your face!" Rose exclaimed, seemingly oblivious to Phoenix's suddenly curious gaze.

"It hurt. Phoenix can attest to that." The mentioned brunette grimaced a little at that before quickly pushing the thought from her mind.

"You're so gay." Rose responded with a grin that slowly fell before she turned back to the Doctor. "When you say nine hundred years..."

"That's my age." The Doctor answered, shrugging his shoulders a bit. Phoenix stared for a moment before just shaking her head. Of course he was.

"You're nine hundred years old?" Rose asked in disbelief and Phoenix noticed the worried look in the blonde's eyes. Right, her friend had decided the Doctor would be hers.

"Yeah."

"Well, it isn't that unexpected." Phoenix responded, glancing at the Doctor with a grin. "After all, can anything be expected with aliens? Especially this one? For all we know, he sleeps with his eyes open, hanging upside down, while eating pudding."

The two of them looked at her, the Doctor mildly amused and considering and Rose worried as she glanced between the Doctor and Phoenix.

"My mum was right. That is one hell of an age gap." With a sigh, the blonde hopped down from the ledge, pacing away a bit. "Every conversation with you just goes mental. There's no one else I can talk to."

"There's me." Phoenix interjected softly, still not entirely sure where she stood with the girl. One moment she was being mean and the next she seemed to want to make amends.

Rose turned and grinned at her. "I meant anyone normal. You're like some weird...nerd. I didn't know better, I'd think _you_ were an alien."

Phoenix mock scoffed at that, crossing her arms in front of her. "I take great offense to that comment, Rose Tyler. Not because aliens are bad, but because it took you so long to realize it."

Rose chuckled before her mood slowly fell again and she continued with her earlier train of thought. "We've seen all that stuff up there, the size of it, and we can't say a word. Aliens and spaceships and things and...we're the only people on planet Earth who knows they exist."

Phoenix raised a brow at her friend, opening her mouth to explain how unlikely that statement was, but she didn't get the chance. Instead a loud horn sounded behind them and they all whirled around to see a spaceship flying directly over them. The Doctor quickly pulled the girls down, looking up at the ship with shock.

What were the chances of that? Phoenix wondered, following the ship with her eyes and turning to watch it fly towards Big Ben where it destroyed the clock face before crashing into the Thames'.

"Oh, that's just not fair." Rose muttered as the trio stood, staring after the ship.

Rose was shocked, Phoenix was already trying to figure out what could possibly be happening, while the Doctor was beginning to grin from ear to ear. A moment passed before the Doctor grabbed their hands with a laugh and dragged them after him. They raced down the stairs and hurried to where the traffic was building up, now being blocked by military men with vans and guns.

"It's blocked off." The Doctor stated the obvious as the three came to a stop.

"We're miles from the center." Rose stated, looking around as she tried to catch her breath. "The city must be gridlocked. Whole of London must be closing down."

"I know. I can't believe I'm here to see this! This is fantastic!" The Doctor exclaimed and both Rose and Phoenix turned to look at him.

"Did you know this was gonna happen?" Rose almost accused.

"Nope."

"D'you recognize the ship?" Phoenix wondered, brows furrowing in concentration.

"Nope."

"D'you know where it crashed?" Rose continued to inquire.

"Nope."

"Oh, so glad I got you." Rose huffed out, turning back to look at the vans.

"I bet you are. This is what I travel for, Rose, Phoenix. To see history happening right in front of us." The Doctor was still beaming with glee and Phoenix couldn't help but chuckle at it. Even though the aliens could potentially want to kill and enslave all of mankind, the alien she was traveling with was still able to find joy. It was possibly inappropriate timing, but if it could help him deal with the pain he was trying to cope with, then who was she to stop him?

"Well, let's go and see it." Rose insisted, frowning at the Doctor. "Never mind the traffic, we've got the TARDIS."

Phoenix looked at the Doctor expectantly, waiting to see how he would reply.

"Better not. Already got one spaceship in the middle of London, don't want to shove another one on top." He replied, his grin falling as he continued to survey what was going on.

"Yeah, but your's looks like a big blue box, no one's gonna notice."

"You'd be surprised! Emergency like this there'll be all kinds of people watching. Trust me, the TARDIS stays where it is."

Rose looked put out but honestly Phoenix had to admit that she kind of understood that. After all, police boxes weren't really a thing anymore, and with everyone in such chaos they would overthink and look into everything. Even a random blue box on the corner, if only because it no longer fit into the society of that day and age. People would automatically assume alien or conspiracy.

"Yeah," Phoenix murmured, thinking back to a few days ago when she'd been actively looking for the Doctor. "All I had to do was look up 'Doctor, Blue Box' and I found someone who pretty much led me right to him."

The Doctor shot her a questioning look at that before seeming to fall into his thoughts. Had it really been that easy? He wondered, examining the brunette. Well, that wouldn't do. He'd have to fix it later after all of this was done and dealt with.

"So history's happenin' and we're stuck here?" The blonde grumbled, looking around at all the people and drawing the Doctor's attention back to the events at hand.

"Yes, we are." The Doctor stated, frowning a little as he craned to see over the tops of people.

Phoenix didn't even bother. It was clear that they wouldn't be catching sight of anything from where they were. The military vans were in the way, not to mention all of the people rushing about and the traffic. These people would want to keep things under wraps and quiet. Even if there was already panic, they didn't want to cause anymore. But that was exactly why there were people with jobs for this kind of thing. People who would do anything to air a story to the people, though not always a true one, usually one could construe some truth.

"Good thing there's ways around this kind of thing." She piped up, crossing her arms and grinning at Rose and the Doctor. "What does everyone else do when they want to learn about what's going on in the world?"

Rose grinned at her tentatively, though the Doctor looked confused. The blonde turned to the Doctor. "We could watch it on TV."

 **There you guys go! Hope you like it! Again, still don't have reliable internet and I'm not sure when I will be able to get the next chapter up, but I am working on it! Also, I got a job! My first job so yay! It's pretty fun, actually so that's great! Thank you all for your reviews and now I'm going to take a second to answer them! I don't remember which ones I may have already answered but I'm going to just answer all of them that I can! The ones from 2017, that is! Hope you're all still with me and reading this story and if not, that's fine, but if you are and I answer your review you should review the next chapter and let me know how many of you are still here! Okay, on to it and I love you guys! Oh, I will also be answering the Guest reviews but since you guys don't have an account I can't put your names down and have you know I'm talking to you. :( Sorry, but I will be answering your questions!**

 **Guest: As for Phoenix being a princess, I can't tell you yet. She may or may not be, but her being introduced by the psychic paper as 'Princess Adonnen' is important to the story arc, though you may not find that out in this first book. I'm going to do another book every season or just every Doctor. Let me know which you guys would prefer because now that I think about it, I'm not sure how I should do it.**

 **scarlet rose white & Onesmartcookie78: Answering both of your reviews here since it's the same thing and I don't want you to think I didn't listen to you! Anyways, thank you for the tips on the horizontal line slash makeshift page break. I couldn't figure it out, but I did come up with a way to separate scenes such as those. Hope it helps!**

 **Kitsunko: I'm glad you like the Owen tie in. As for Jack knowing her, it's wibbly wobbly. But since I imagine Torchwood starting after Season 2 of Doctor Who, Jack does know her, but he also knows that she doesn't know him yet, so things are going to sometimes be a bit complicated between the two! :) I honestly hadn't anticipated how difficult it would be when I started the story but find it to be a welcome challenge. As for Rose's issue with Phoenix, well you will find out about that next chapter!**

 **aileyelliot38: Thanks so much! I'm glad that I could make it unique as I was aiming for!**

 **SlytherineHolmes: I'm glad that this is one of your favorite fics and I hope you're still reading! I always thought that the writers should've done more crossover between Doctor Who and Torchwood since there are a lot of inconsistencies in the Torchwood series because of their lack of crossover. Jack has a Timelord on speed dial and could've solved things better and happier for everyone if he'd just used his head. At the very least I think the writer's should've given a reason as to why he doesn't just call him up.**

 **A9315 of Procrastinationville: So Jimmy Stone is not involved in the girl's feud and I'm glad you like the story!**

 **Kitsunko: (More recent review) - So I can't say whether or not Rose is the serpent and Phoenix is the Bad Wolf because I can't just give away the whole plot. :) But I will tell you that you will most likely - if I do my job right - be surprised by the conclusion of this season. I'm super excited about it!**

 **Ghostunderasheet: Hey, thanks for your review! The new perspective had actually helped me in my decision and I agree that there will be a lot of opportunity for Rose to grow as a character! That being said, there will still be some tension between the two down the line, but hopefully it will make them even closer by the conclusion of it!**

 **Guest: Also, thanks for reviewing to my question on the relations of the characters! And Rose being Rose I can guarantee that there will be more jealous Rose down the line.**

 **Momochan77: I'm so glad that you love this story and find it interesting! And here's your update!**

 **Okay, guys so I hope that helped answer some of your questions! I'm going to try and continue to answer reviews so keep them coming? I love hearing from you guys and it help me so much in my writing! Also, you should tell me what you think of the Doctor/Phoenix interactions that aren't in the show because I struggle with those scenes so much. Let me know how I'm doing? And if there's any tips that could help improve them, that would be splendid! Love you, guys and I hope you enjoyed the read!**


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